Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut James Bagian!

 

James Bagian, born February 22, 1952 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights.  He received his Doctorate of Medicine from Thomas  Jefferson University in 1977.  He is the first astronaut of Armenian descent to travel into space.

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-29) as mission specialist in March 1989.  The mission's main goal was the deployment of part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite.

His second and final flight was aboard Columbia (STS-40) as mission specialist in June 1991.   It was the fifth dedicated SpaceLab mission, dedicated solely to life sciences experiments.

Columbia (STS-40) launched 1991

STS-40 crew 

Front row (L-R):  Drew Gaffney, Millie Hughes-Fulford, Rhea Seddon, James Bagian; 

Back row (L-R): Bryan O'Connor, Tamara Jernigan, Sidney Gutierrez

Mission insignia

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-40), launched June 5, 1991, was the first mission dedicated entirely to biology.  Its crew consisted of Commander Bryan O'Connor, Pilot Sidney Gutierrez, James Bagian, Tamara Jernigan, Rhea Seddon, Drew Gaffney and Millie Hughes-Fulford.  It was also the first mission to carry three female astronauts.

They carried out experiments on themselves, 30 rodents and thousands of tiny jellyfish.

Columbia returned to Earth June 14.

Discovery (STS-29) launched 1989

Back row, L-R: James Bagian, Robert Springer, James Buchli. 

Front row, L-R: John Blaha, Michael Coats

Mission patch

Discovery (STS-29), launched March 13, 1989, was the twenty-eighth overall space shuttle mission, since the previous mission (STS-28) was delayed until August of that year. Its crew consisted of Commander Michael Coats, Pilot John Blaha, mission specialists Robert Springer, James Buchli and James Bagian. 

What?  They couldn't find a commander and another mission specialist with the initials "J. B."?

The mission included two Shuttle Student Involvement Program experiments.  One used four live rats with tiny pieces of bone removed from them to see how environmental effects of space flight affected bone healing.  The second involved 32 chicken eggs to see how space flight affected fertilized chicken embryos.

No word on the success of those experiments.

They returned to Earth March 18.