STS-121 crew (L-R): Stephanie Wilson, Michael Fossum, Steven Lindsey, Piers Sellers, Mark Kelly, Thomas Reiter, Lisa Nowak.
Mission patch
Space shuttle Discovery (STS-121), launched July 4, 2006, carried equipment and supplies to the International Space Station as well as a German astronaut from the European Space Agency. Its crew consisted of Commander Steven Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly, Michael Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Thomas Reiter (ESA).
Part of the mission was to test new safety and repair techniques put in place by NASA following the Columbia disaster. Three EVAs were conducted during the mission by Mike Fossum, Mark Kelly and Piers Sellers.
STS-124 crew (L-R): Gregory Chamitoff, Michael Fossum, Kenneth Ham, Mark Kelly, Karen Nyberg, Ronald Garan and Akihiko Hoshide
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-124), launched May 31, 2008, delivered the Japanese Experiment Module called Kibo to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Kenneth Ham, Karen Nyberg, Ronald Garan, Michael Fossum, Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA) and Gregory Chamitoff.
The crew also delivered replacement parts for a malfunctioning toilet on the ISS.
STS-134 crew (L-R): Andrew Feustel, Michael Fincke, Mark Kelly, Greg H. Johnson, Greg Chamitoff, Roberto Vittori
Mission patch
Endeavour launched its final mission (STS-134), May 16, 2011. It was the next to last shuttle flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. Originally thought to be the last flight, NASA decided in February 2011 that STS-135 would fly regardless of the funding situation.
Its crew was Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Greg H. Johnson, Michael Fincke, Roberto Vittori, Andrew Feustel and Gregory Chamitoff. Four EVAs were completed by three astronauts during the flight. Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Michael Fincke spent a total of 28 hours and 44 minutes outside the ISS.
Twins Mark Edward Kelly and Scott Joseph Kelly, born February 21, 1964 in Orange, New Jersey, are both astronauts, who were selected by NASA in 1986 and have logged many hours in space.
Mark Kelly is a veteran of four space shuttle flights. His first trip into space was aboard Endeavour (STS-108) to the International Space Station in December 2001 as pilot. His second missin was aboard Discovery (STS-121) also to the ISS as pilot in July 2006. He served as commander on his third flight back on Discovery (STS-124) May-June 2006. His fourth and final flight was on Endeavour (STS-134) as commander May-June 2011. He retired from NASA June 21, 2011 to help his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically wounded in an assassination attempt, recover from her injuries.
Scott Kelly has flown two space shuttle missions and set a record in 2015 for the total number of accumulated days. This record was broken the following year by Jeff Williams, and the year after by Peggy Whitson.
His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-103) as pilot in December 1999, a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. His second mission was on Endeavour (STS-118) as commander to the ISS in August 2007. He flew to the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-01M to the ISS with Commander Aleksandr Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka in October 7, 2010. He first served as flight engineer on Expedition 25, beginning the second part of the expedition. He became commander of Expedition 26 which began on November 10, 2010. He returned to Earth March 16, 2011.
His fourth and final mission was on Soyuz TMA-16M launched March 27, 2015 with Mikhail Kornienko, when he began a year-long mission aboard the ISS. He spent 11 months inspace, conducting 3 EVAs before he returned to Earth March 2016 on Soyuz TMA-18M. He was aboard the ISS for Expeditions 43-46. Upon his return, he retired from NASA in April 2016.
He published a book last year Endurance about his time in space.
L-R: Mark Kelly, Linda Godwin, Daniel Tani, Dominic Pudwill Gorie
Mission Patch
Endeavour (STS-108) launched December 5, 2001, was the first mission after the 9/11 attacks and the crew honored the victims during the flight. Endeavour's crew was Commander Dominic Pudwill Gorie, Pilot Mark E. Kelly, Mission Specialist Linda Godwin and Mission Specialist Daniel Tani.
She carried the crew of Expedition 4 to the International Space Station: Yuri Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch. On her return, she brought back the crew of Expedition 3: Frank Culbertson, Mikhail Turin, and Vladimir Dezhurov.
An American flag that was recovered the morning of Sept 12, 2001 from the site of the World Trade Center wreckage, a USMC flag recovered from the Pentagon and an American flag flown over the State Capital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania flew on the Endeavour that mission.
Also, 23 badges of fallen NYPD officers and 6000 small American flags to honor those lost flew on the Space shuttle. The 6000 flags were given to families who lost loved ones on 9/11.
During the mission Linda Godwin and Daniel Tani performed an EVA which lasted a little over 4 hours. Endeavour landed on December 17.
