Endeavour (STS-111) launched 2002

STS-111 crew (L-R): Philippe Perrin, Paul Lockhart, Kenneth Cockrell, Franklin Chang Diaz

STS-111 mission patch

Expedition 5 crew (L-R): Valery Korzun, Peggy Whitson, Sergei Treshchov

Expedition 4 crew (L-R): Daniel Bursch, Yuri Onufrienko, Carl Walz

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-111), launched June 5, 2002, carried members of Expedition 5 to the International Space Station.  Endeavour's crew consisted of Commander Kenneth Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Philippe Perrin (CNES), and Franklin Chang Diaz on his seventh and final flight.  The members of Expedition 5 consisted of Valery Korzun (Roscosmos), Peggy Whitson, and Sergei Treshchov (Roscosmos).

Chang Diaz and Perrin conducted three EVAs during the mission.  Endeavour returned to Earth after almost two weeks in space with the members of Expedition 4: Yuri Onufrienko (Roscosmos), Carl Walz, and Daniel Bursch.

Discovery (STS-91) launched 1998

STS-91 crew

Front row (L-R): Dominic Gorie, Charles Precourt

Back row (L-R): Wendy Lawrence, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Janet Kavandi, Valery Ryumin, Andrew Thomas

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-91), launched June 2, 1998, was the final mission to the space station Mir.  Its crew consisted of Commander Charles Precourt, Pilot Dominic Gorie, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Wendy Lawrence, Janet Kavandi and Valery Ryumin (Roscosmos).

Andrew Thomas joined the crew of Discovery, after he had spent 130 days on Mir.  They returned to Earth June 12.

Columbia (STS-61-C) launched 1986

STS-61-C crew

Front row (L-R): Robert Cenker, Charles Bolden, Robert Gibson, Franklin Chang Diaz

Back row (L-R): Bill Nelson, Steven Hawley, George Nelson

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-61-C), launched January 12, 1986, was the last space shuttle flight before the Challenger disaster. Its crew consisted of Commander Robert Gibson, Pilot Charles Bolden, George Nelson, Steven Hawley, Franklin Chang-Diaz, William Nelson and Robert Cenker.

It was the first flight for Franklin Chang Diaz, the first Latin-American immigrant to go into space.  It was the second mission to have an African-American pilot - Charles Bolden.  Bolden would go onto become NASA Administrator.  It was the second mission to have a sitting politician on board - Bill Nelson (D-Florida).  It was Robert Cenker's only space flight. It might be the first time two astronauts with the same last name were on board.

They returned to Earth January 18.

Happy birthday, French astronaut Philippe Perrin!

Philippe Perrin, born January 6, 1963 in Morocco, went into space on the space shuttle Endeavour (STS-111) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in June 2002.  He was an astronaut for the ESA and CNES and spent almost 14 days in space.  He performed 3 EVAs with fellow astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz. 

Columbia (STS-75) launched 1996

STS-75 crew

Seated (L-R): Scott Horowitz, Andrew Allen, Franklin Chang-Diaz

Standing (L-R): Maurizio Cheli, Umberto Guidoni, Jeffrey Hoffman, Claude Nicollier

STS-75 mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-75), launched February 22, 1996, carried the Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R) into orbit.  Its crew consisted of Commander Andrew Allen, Pilot Scott Horowitz, Jeffrey Hoffman, Maurizio Cheli (ESA), Claude Nicollier (ESA), Franklin Chang-Diaz, and Umberto Guidoni (Italian Space Agency).

The crew planned to deploy the tether to 20.7 km, but the tether broke when over 19 km were deployed.  The porous material, which made up the innermost core, contained trapped bubbles of air at atmospheric pressure.  In space, the air bubbles began to escape and changed the electrical conductivity of the tether, which essentially melted.

They returned to Earth March 9.

Happy birthday, space shuttle astronaut Dr. Franklin Chang- Díaz!

I've written about Dr. Franklin Chang Diaz several times before since he has achieved a number of firsts for astronauts.  Born April 5, 1950 in San Jose, Costa Rica, he became an American citizen in 1977 and was selected as an astronaut in 1980.

He is the first Hispanic American astronaut and the third Latin American in space.  His grandfather fled China during the Boxer Rebellion, so Chang Diaz has Chinese ancestry as well.  He is tied with Jerry Ross for the most space shuttle missions, at seven:

STS-61-C
STS-34
STS-46
STS-60
STS-75
STS-91
STS-111

He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame May 5, 2012.

Discovery (STS-60) launched 1994

 

Clockwise from bottom left:  Kenneth Reightler, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Ronald Sega, Sergei Krikalev,  Jan Davis, Charles Bolden

Mission patch

The first mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir program, Discovery (STS-60) was launched February 3, 1994.  Her crew consisted of Commander Charles Bolden Jr., Pilot Kenneth Reightler, Jr., Mission Specialist Jan Davis, Mission Specialist Ronald Sega, Mission Specialist Franklin Chang Diaz and Mission Specialist Sergei Krikalev, the first cosmonaut to fly on a U.S. Space Shuttle.

Several attempts were made to deploy the Wake Shield Facility, an experimental science platform, but problems arose each time.  It was finally deployed on a later space shuttle mission.

On February 7, Good Morning America performed a video hookup between Discovery (over the Pacific Ocean) and the three cosmonauts on Mir (over the southern United States).

Discovery returned to Earth February 11.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Jerry Ross!

Jerry Lynn Ross, born January 20, 1948 in Crown Point, Indiana, is a veteran of 7 space shuttle flights, tying Franklin Chang-Diaz for the most flights.

His first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-61-B) as mission specialist November-December 1985.  He performed 2 6-hour space walks to demonstrate space station construction techniques.

His second was aboard Atlantis (STS-27) in December 1988 as mission specialist. This trip was cut short due to critical heat-resistant tiles being damaged during liftoff.

During his third flight, back on Atlantis (STS-37) in April 1991, he performed two more EVAs to deploy the Gamma Ray Observatory antenna and test prototype software for the Space Station Freedom.

He served as Payload Commander/Mission Specialist on Columbia (STS-55) in April-May 1993.

He returned to space on Atlantis (STS-74) in November 1995 to space station Mir. 

In December 1998, he was on Endeavour (STS-88), which was the first International Space Station assembly mission.  Ross performed 3 EVAs totaling 21 hours 22 minutes to connect umbilicals and attach tools and hardware.

His final flight was on Atlantis (STS-110) April 2002, when he performed 2 EVAs for just over 14 hours.

Ross retired from NASA on January 28, 2012 being the first person to go into space 7 times.

Galileo probe, launched from Atlantis, 1989

The Galileo probe to Jupiter wa launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis, October 18, 1989, a mere 6 hours after take-off.  The STS-34 mission crew consisted of Commander Donald Williams, Pilot Michael McCulley, Shannon Lucid(!), Franklin Chang-Diaz (remember him?) and Ellen Baker.

Galileo became the first spacecraft to orbit and fly into the atmosphere of an outer planet.

Ellen Baker, a medical doctor, studied the effectiveness of anti-motion sickness medication in space.  I'm sure some of those early cosmonauts wished they had some of that.

The wake-up calls included Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Centerfield by John Fogerty, Fly Like an Eagle by the Steve Miller Band and the OU Fight Song (Shannon!).

The original date of the launch was scheduled for October 12, which was the first day of the optimum window to launch a spacecraft directly to Jupiter, but they had to replace a faulty main engine controller on Engine No. 2.  The date was re-set to October 17, but the crew wanted to get Billy Joel's new album Storm Front, which was released that day, so they took off on October 18.

(Not really)

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month - Dr. Franklin Chang-Díaz, first Costa Rican astronaut

Franklin Chang-Diaz is NASA's first Latin-American astronaut and the first Costa Rican in space.  He is a veteran of 7 space shuttle flights, which is the most of any astronaut except for Jeffrey Ross, who has also flown on 7 missions.

He was born in San Juan, Costa Rica, but he is also of Chinese descent since his father's father was born in China.

Chang-Diaz has received many rewards for his accomplishments in science and was inducted into the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2012.

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-46) launched 1992

Claude Nicolllier, Franklin  Chang-Diaz, Ranco Malerba

Space Shuttle Atlantis took off Juy 31, 1992, mission STS-46, carrying Claude Nicollier, the first Swiss astronaut, Franklin Ramon Chang-Diza, the first Costa Rican astronaut and Franco Malerba, the first Italian astronaut.

Commander Loren J. Shriver, Pilot Andrew M. Allen, Mission Specialist 2 Marsha S. Ivins and Mission Specialist 3 Jeffrey A.  Hoffman completed the crew.

The mission marked the 150th human spaceflight to reach orbit.

Dr. Franklin Chang-Díaz, NASA's first Latin-American astronaut, launched 1986

Dr. Franklin Ramon Chang Diaz was the third Latin-American in space and NASA's first when he took off January 12, 1986 in the Space Shuttle Columbia.   He is of Chinese and Costa Rican ancestry, which has got to be a first somewhere.  I'm not sure the Chinese could come up with a mixture like that!

He is a veteran of 7 Space Shuttle flights which ties for the record.  His first mission landed 6 days after launch.  It was the last space shuttle mission for a long time, since the Challenger exploded just 10 days later.

He was inducted into the NASA's Astronaut Hall of Fame May 5, 2012.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Chang_D%C3%ADaz
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/chang.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/profile-chang-diaz.html