Atlantis (STS-132) launched 2010

STS-132 crew

Seated front: Ken Ham

Seated back (L-R): Garrett Reisman, Stephen Bowen

Standing back row (L-R): Michael Good, Dominic Antonelli, Piers Sellers

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-132), launched May 14, 2010, was the penultimate flight of Atlantis.  Its crew consisted of Commander Kenneth Ham, Pilot Dominic Antonelli, Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Stephen Bowen, and Piers Sellers.

The primary mission was to deliver the Russian Rassvet Mini-Research Module to the International Space Station.

Reisman, Bowen, and Good performed three EVAs for a total of over 20 hours.  The crew returned to Earth May 26.

This was to be the last flight of Atlantis but NASA declared that Atlantis would fly the final mission of the entire space shuttle program, STS-135.

Piers Sellers, British astronaut, born 1955

Piers Sellers, born April 11, 1955 in East Sussex, England, was a veteran of three space shuttle missions.

His first trip into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-112) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in October 2002.  He conducted three EVAs with fellow astronaut David Wolf for a total of over 19 hours.

His second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-121) as mission specialist to the ISS in July 2006.  He conducted three more EVAs with fellow astronaut Michael Fossum.

His third and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-132) as mission specialist to the ISS in May 2010.  He operated the Canadarm 2 robotic arm during the mission.

He passed away in December 2016 of pancreatic cancer.

Discovery (STS-121) launched 2006

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.

The crew returned to Earth July 17.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Michael Fossum!

Michael Fossum, born December 19, 1957 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is a veteran of two space shuttle missions and one Soyuz mission to the International Space Station. 

His first trip into space was aboard Discovery (STS-121) as mission specialist to the ISS in July 2006.  The main objective of this flight was to test new safety and repair techniques put into place after the Columbia disaster.  He performed three EVAs with fellow astronaut Piers Sellers.

His second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-124) in May-June 2008 as mission specialist to the ISS.  He performed three more EVAs with fellow astronaut Ronald Garan. 

His third and final trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-02M, which launched in June 2011 as part of Expedition 28 crew.  He was commander of Expedition 29 from September to November 2011, when he returned to Earth
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Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-112) launched 2002

Sandra Magnus, David Wolf, Pamela Melroy, Jeffrey Ashby, Peirs Sellers, Fydor Yurchikhin

Space Shuttle Atlantis took off from Kennedy Space Center  October 7, 2002 on mission STS-112.  Her crew consisted of Commander Jeffrey Ashby, Pilot Pamela Melroy, Mission Specialist 1 Piers Sellers, Mission Specialist 2 Sandra Magnus, Mission Specialist 3 David Wolf, and Mission Specialist Fyodor Yurchikhin.

During the launch, a chunk of foam broke off the external tank and created a 4"x3" dent in an attachment to one of the solid booster rocket.  Despite realizing the dangers of such an incident, NASA decided to continue with launches as scheduled.  Endeavour's flight in November 2002 went without incident.  The next flight was STS-107, Columbia, which ended in disaster.

Pam Melroy's wake up call on Day 10 was Prime Time from Alan Parsons Project!  What a gal!