Frank Culbertson, born May 15, 1949 in Charleston, South Carolina, has been in space three times, and is the only American not on Earth during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
His first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-38) as pilot in November 1990. The mission carried a classified payload for the Department of Defense.
His second flight was aboard Discovery (STS-51) as commander in September 1993. The astronauts were filmed by a camera crew from the United Kingdom and the documentary was released as Space Shuttle Discovery.
His third and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-105), launched in August 2001 as mission specialist to the International Space Station. He was commander of the ISS during Expedition 3. He conducted one space walk with fellow astronaut Vladimir Dezhurov for just over 5 hours. He returned to Earth on Endeavour (STS-108) in December 2001.
Carl Walz, born September 6, 1955 in Cleveland, Ohio, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.
His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-51) as mission specialist in September 1993. He and fellow astronaut Jim Newman performed an EVA to evaluate tools and procedures for a Hubble Telescope maintenance flight later in the year.
His second flight was aboard Columbia (STS-65) as mission specialist in July 1994. The mission included the second flight of the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2).
Walz's third mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-79) as mission specialist in September 1996. Shannon Lucid returned from Mir after her record-breaking stay.
His fourth and final mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-108) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in December 2001. Walz was part of Expedition 4. He returned to Earth in June 2002 aboard Endeavour (STS-111).
Linda Godwin, born July 2, 1952 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights. After getting her doctorate in physics, she joined NASA in 1980 and became an astronaut in 1986.
Her first flight was on Atlantis (STS-37) as mission specialist in April 1991.
Her second flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-59) as mission specialist in April 1994. She assisted in photographing supersites, places NASA has identified to track a variety of contributors to track climate change. She took clear pictures of Chickasha, Oklahoma(!), one of 19 supersites.
Her third mission was on Atlantis (STS-76) in March 1996 to the space station Mir, during which she performed the first U.S. spacewalk around two docked spacecraft with fellow astronaut Michael Clifford.
Her fourth and final mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-108) in December 2001. She and fellow astronaut Daniel Tani completed a four hour, 12 minute spacewalk to install insulation on the International Space Station's main solar arrays.
Godwin was married to fellow astronaut Steven Nagel until his death in 2014.
Dominic Lee Pudwill Gorie, born May 2, 1957 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, is a veteran of four space shuttle missions. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1994 and flew as pilot on his first mission on Discovery (STS-91) in June 1998, the final space shuttle mission to Mir.
He piloted Endeavour (STS-99) in February 2000. It was the last solo flight of Endeavour, since the remainder of its missions were dedicated to the International Space Station.
Gorie's third mission was as commander of Endeavour (STS-108) in December 2001. The mission's main purpose was to deliver Expedition 4 to the ISS and bring back Expedition 3.
His final mission was as commander on Endeavour (STS-123) in March 2008. The flight set a record for the longest shuttle mission to 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.
Yuri Onufriyenko, born February 6, 1961 in Ukraine, is a veteran of three space flights (one Soyuz, two space shuttles), which included extended stays aboard Mir and the International Space Station.
His first trip into space was aboard SoyuzTM-23 in February 1996 to Mir as commander of the Mir EO-21 expedition. He returned to Earth September 2.
His next mission was to the International Space Station aboard Endeavour (STS-108) December 2001 where he would serve as commander of Expedition 4.
He returned to Earth on Endeavour (STS-111) June 2002.
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.
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.
Veteran cosmonaut/astronaut Vladimir Dezhurov, born July 30, 1962, in the former Soviet Union, has traveled on Soyuz and the Space Shuttle to Mir and the International Space Station. He has logged 9 EVAs at just over 37 hours total. Not bad for only 2 trips to space!
His first mission was aboard Soyuz TM-21, launched in March 1995 to Mir. This mission saw the first American, Norman Thagard, to ride on a Soyuz spacecraft. Dezhurov returned to Earth in July 1995 on the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-71).
He flew to the ISS in August 2001 aboard the Discovery (STS-105) and returned in December aboard the Endeavour (STS-108).
