Happy birthday, Space Shuttle Kenneth Reightler!

Kenneth Reightler, born March 24, 1951 in Patuxent River, Maryland, has been to space twice.

His first trip into space was aboard Discovery (STS-48) as pilot in September 1991.  The mission's main goal was to deploy the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.

His second and final trip was aboard Discovery (STS-60) again as pilot in February 1994.  The mission carried the first cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev, to fly aboard a Space Shuttle.  The flight carried the Wake Shield Facilty into space.

Discovery (STS-48) launched 1991

STS-48 crew

Front row (L-R): Mark Brown, John Creighton, Kenneth Reightler 

Back row (L-R): Charles Gemar, James Buchli

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-48), launched September 12, 1991, carried the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) into space.  Its crew consisted of Commander John Creighton, Pilot Kenneth Reightler, Charles Gemar, James Buchli, and Mark Brown.

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.