Discovery (STS-64) launched 1994

STS-64 crew

Front Row (L-R): Blaine Hammond, Richard Richards, Susan Helms

Back Row (L-R): Mark Lee, Jerry Linenger, Carl Meade

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-64) launched September 9, 1994. Its crew consisted of Commander Richard Richards, Pilot Blaine Hammond, Jerry Linenger, Susan Helms, Carl Meade, and Mark Lee.

Lee and Meade conducted an untethered EVA to test a new backpack called Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), designed to be used in the event a crew member becomes untethered during a spacewalk.

They returned to Earth September 20.

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-81) launched 1997

STS-81 crew

Front row (L-R):  Front: Brent Jett, Michael Baker; 

Back Row (L-R): John Grunsfeld, John Blaha, Peter Wisoff, Jerry Linenger, Marsha Ivins

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-81), launched January 12, 1997, was the fifth mission to the space station Mir.  Its crew consisted of Commander Michael Baker, Pilot Brent Jett, Peter Wisoff, John Gunsfeld, Marsha Ivins and Jerry Linenger.

Linenger stayed on board Mir as part of Expedition EO-22 and John Blaha returned with the rest of the crew January 22. Linenger became the third American to live on Mir.  Blaha had spent 118 days aboard.

Atlantis (STS-84) launched to Mir 1997

STS-84 crew:

Front Row (L-R): Jerry Linenger, Charles Precourt, Michael Foale; 

Back Row (L-R): Jean-Francois Clervoy, Eileen Collins, Ed Lu, Yelena Kondakova, Carlos Noriega

Mission patch

Atlantis (STS-84), launched May 17, 1997, was the sixth shuttle mission to the space station Mir.  Its crew consisted of Commander Charles Precourt, Pilot Eileen Collins, Jean-Francois Clervoy, Carlos Noriega, Ed Lu, Yelena Kondakova and Michael Foale.

Michael Foale stayed aboard as part of Expedition Mir EO-23, and Jerry Linenger returned with the STS-84 crew on May 24.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Jerry Linenger!

Jerry Michael Linenger, born January 16, 1955 in East Detroit, Michigan, is a veteran of 3 Space Shuttle flights and one mission aboard Mir.  After graduating from the US Naval Academy in 1977 down here in Annapolis, Maryland, he went to medical school, eventually getting a Doctor of Philosophy in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina in 1989.

His first trip into space was aboard Discovery (STS-64) in September 1994 as mission specialist.  Dr. Linenger's second mission was on Atlantis (STS-81) in January 1997 to the space station Mir, where he stayed for 132 days as part of Expedition EO-22.  While on board, he became the first American astronaut to conduct an EVA from a foreign spacecraft, wearing a foreign-made spacesuit.

He returned to Earth aboard Atlantis (STS-84) in May 1997.