Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Frank Culbertson!

Frank Culbertson, born May 15, 1949 in Charleston, South Carolina, has been in space three times, and is the only American not on Earth during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

His first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-38) as pilot in November 1990.  The mission carried a classified payload for the Department of Defense.

His second flight was aboard Discovery (STS-51) as commander in September 1993.  The astronauts were filmed by a camera crew from the United Kingdom and the documentary was released as Space Shuttle Discovery.

His third and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-105), launched in August 2001 as mission specialist to the International Space Station.  He was commander of the ISS during Expedition 3.  He conducted one space walk with fellow astronaut Vladimir Dezhurov for just over 5 hours.  He returned to Earth on Endeavour (STS-108) in December 2001.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Dominic Gorie!

Dominic Lee Pudwill Gorie, born May 2, 1957 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, is a veteran of four space shuttle missions.  He was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1994 and flew as pilot on his first mission on Discovery (STS-91) in June 1998, the final space shuttle mission to Mir.

He piloted Endeavour (STS-99) in February 2000.  It was the last solo flight of Endeavour, since the remainder of its missions were dedicated to the International Space Station.

Gorie's third mission was as commander of Endeavour (STS-108) in December 2001.  The mission's main purpose was to deliver Expedition 4 to the ISS and bring back Expedition 3.

His final mission was as commander on Endeavour (STS-123) in March 2008.  The flight set a record for the longest shuttle mission to the ISS.