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.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut, Pamela Melroy!

Pamela Melroy, born September 17, 1961 in Palo Alto, California, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights.  She is the second woman after Eileen Collins to command a Space Shuttle mission.

Her first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-92) as pilot to the International Space Station in October 2000.  It was the 100th Space Shuttle mission.

Her second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-112) as pilot to the ISS in October 2002.  One of her wake-up songs was Prime Time by the Alan Parsons Project!

Her third and last mission was aboard Discovery (STS-120) as commander to the ISS in October-November 2007.  She met Peggy Whitson, who was commander of the ISS at the time.  It was the first time two female commanders were in space simultaneously.

Soyuz MS-04 launched 2017

Soyuz MS-04 crew (L-R): Fyodor Yurchikhin, Jack Fischer

Mission patch

Soyuz MS-04, launched April 20, 2017, carried two crew members to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin (Roscosmos) and Jack Fischer (NASA).

Yurchikhin and Fischer participated in Expeditions 51 and 52.  They returned to Earth in September 2017 with Peggy Whitson.

Congratulations Christina Koch, longest space flight by a female!

Back in October, Christina Koch made history by participating in the first all-female spacewalk with fellow astronaut Jessica Meir.  She made history again today by setting the record for the longest space flight by a woman for 289 days, breaking the record set earlier by Peggy Whitson. 

Happy birthday, Malaysian cosmonaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor!

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, born July 27, 1972 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has spent 10 days aboard the International Space Station.  He was selected as a cosmonaut for the Malaysian Angkasawan (ANGKASA) spaceflight program in 2006. He is the first Malaysian in space.

He took off in Soyuz TMA-11 in October 2007 to the ISS with members of Expedition 16, Yuri Malenchenko and Peggy Whitson.  He returned to Earth about 10 days later aboard Soyuz TMA-10.

Endeavour (STS-113) launched 2002

STS-113 (L-R): Paul S. Lockhart, Michael López-Alegría, John Herrington, James D. Wetherbee

Mission patch

Expedition 6 crew (L-R): Donald Pettit, Ken Bowersox and Nikolai Budarin

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-113), launched November 23, 2002, was a mission to exchange Expeditions 5 and 6 on the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington.  The members of Expedition 6 being carried to the ISS were Kenneth Bowersox, Nikolai Budarin and Donald Pettit.  The returning members of Expedition 5 were Valery Korzun, Peggy Whitson, and Sergei Treshchov.

Soyuz MS-03 launched 2016

Soyuz MS-03 crew (L-R): Thomas Pesquet, Peggy Whitson, Oleg Novitskiy

Mission patch

Soyuz MS-03, launched November 17, 2016, carried three members of Expedition 50 to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Oleg Novitskiy (Roscosmos), Thomas Pesquet (ESA) and Peggy Whitson (NASA).

At age 56, Peggy Whitson became the oldest woman to go into space.  Novitskiy and Pesquet returned to Earth in June 2017 after 196 days.  Whitson returned in September aboard Soyuz MS-04.

Soyuz TMA-11 launched 2007

Soyuz TMA-11 crew (L-R): Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Yuri Malenchenko, Peggy Whitson

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-11, launched October 10, 2007, carried two members of Expedition 16 and the first Malaysian astronaut to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Yuri Malenchenko (Roscosmos), Peggy Whitson (NASA) and Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who flew as part of an agreement between the Russian and Malaysian governments.

Shukor stayed on the ISS for about 10 days and returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-10.  Malenchenko and Whitson stayed on board for almost 192 days and returned in April 2008.  The first Korean astronaut, Yi So-yeon, joined them on the return trip.  She had arrived about 10 days earlier on Soyuz TMA-12.

During re-entry, Soyuz TMA-11 made a ballistic maneuver, which meant its descent was steeper than normal, due to a malfunction.  They landed safe and sound about 475 km from their target. 

Happy birthday, astronaut Peggy Whitson!

Peggy Whitson, born February 9, 1960 in Mount Ayr, Iowa, holds the U.S. record for spending the most time in space, 665 days.

Her first mission was on Endeavour (STS-111) in June 2002 as mission specialist to the International Space Station.  She stayed on board as Expedition 5 until December 2002 when she returned on Endeavour (STS-113).

Her next trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-11 as flight engineer in October 2007.  She served as commander of Expedition 16, returning in April 2008.

Her next trip to the ISS was on Soyuz MS-03 in November 2016 as part of Expeditions 50-52.  She returned to Earth September 3, 2017 on Soyuz MS-04.

Only seven Russian men have stayed in space longer than Peggy.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Daniel Tani!

Daniel Tani, born February 1, 1961 in Pennsylvania, is a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions.

His first mission was on Endeavour (STS-108) in December 2001 as a mission specialist to the International Space Station.  He completed an EVA with Linda Godwin that lasted 4 hours and 12 minutes.

Before his next flight, he served as an aquanaut on NEEMO 2, NASA's underwater laboratory Aquarius for a week under the Atlantic Ocean.

His second trip to space was aboard Discovery (STS-120) to the ISS in October 2007.  He remained aboard the ISS as part of Expedition 16, during which he performed the 100th EVA in support of the building the ISS with Peggy Whitson.

He returned to Earth aboard Atlantis (STS-122) in February 2008.

Soyuz MS-03 launched 2016

L-R: Thomas Pesquet, Peggy Whitson, Oleg Novitskiy

 Mission patch

Soyuz MS-03 took off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, November 17, 2016.  On board were Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), Thomas Pesquet (France) and Peggy Whitson (Iowa).  Peggy was the oldest woman to go into space, but I don't know of anyone who will actually say that to her.  ;)

Soyuz MS-03 traveled to the International Space Station, docking on November 19.  It undocked June 2, 2017 bringing Pesquet and Novitskiy back to Earth.  Whitson stayed on the ISS until September 3.

Happy birthday, John Herrington, first Chickasaw astronaut!

John Herrington, born September 14, 1958 in Wetumka, Oklahoma into the Chickasaw Nation, became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in space.  He flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-113) with Peggy Whitson (first flight) November - December 2002.  It was the last shuttle mission before the Columbia disaster in 2003.

On his thirteenth day in space, he carried the flag of the Chickasaw Nation presented to him by the Chickasaw Nation's governor Bill Anoatubby.  He performed 3 EVAs while working on the International Space Station, logging almost 20 hours in space.

Soyuz MS-06 fixin' to blast off this afternoon!

Soyuz MS-06 crew: Joe Acaba, Alexander Misurkin, Mark Vande Hei

This afternoon about 5:17pm EDT, the next crew of the International Space Station will blast off aboard Soyuz MS-06 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and dock with the ISS approximately 6 hours later.  The crew consists of Lt. Col. Mark Vande Hei (Falls Church, VA; first flight), Joseph Acaba (first Puerto Rican astronaut; third flight) and cosmonaut/commander Alexander Misurkin (Yershichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russia; second flight)

They will join Randy Bresnik, Paolo Nespoli and Sergey Ryanzanski already on the ISS since July 28.  The new crew will continue experiments in biology, physical science and Earth science.

What?  No chemistry?

Just 10 days ago, Peggy Whitson, Jack Fisher and Fyodor Yurchikhin returned to Earth from the ISS, splatting down near Dzhezkagan in Kazakhstan.

Peggy Whitson Talks about Life aboard the International Space Station

Peggy Whitson has spent more time in space than any other NASA astronaut, male or female, and she is the oldest woman to go into space at 56, when she launched November 2016.  She has also set the record for the most time spacewalking for a woman and is third in overall time spent in EVA.

Peggy will also get to observe the solar eclipse August 21, possibly as many as 3 times as they orbit Earth. She has a PhD in biochemistry from Rice University so she has been conducting experiments of testing new drug treatments and studying bone cells in microgravity.

Listen to her talk to Hanneke Weitering, a staff writer at Space.com:

Record-Breaking Astronaut Peggy Whitson Talks About Space Travel & a Solar Eclipse

Soyuz MS-05 has reached the International Space Station

In 6 hours, Soyuz MS-05 launched and then docked with the International Space Station!  That's a typical day's commute in the DC area.  Paolo Nespoli, Randy Bresnik and Sergey Ryazabsky have joined the three current residents on the ISS, Peggy Whitson, Jack Fischer and Fyodor Yurchikhin, who are scheduled to remain aboard until September.  The new arrivals will spend 5 months on the ISS conducting many scientific experiments.

One such experiment is a study developed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation of the pathology of Parkinson's disease to aid in the development of therapies for patients.