Happy birthday, NASA astronaut John Phillips!

John Phillips, born April 15, 1951 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights. 

His first flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-100) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in April-May 2001.  The main objective of the mission was to install the Canadarm2 to help continue assembly of the ISS.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-6 to the International Space Station in April 2005.  He participated in Expedition 11 and remained on board until October 2005.

His third and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-119) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in March 2009.  During the mission, Phillips operated the ISS's Canadarm2.

He has spent over 203 days in space.

Happy birthday, astronaut Ricky Arnold!

Richard "Ricky" Arnold, born November 26, 1963 just down the road from here in Cheverly, Maryland, has been in space twice.  He attended Frostburg State University in Maryland, getting a degree in accounting and then completed teacher certification there.  He got a Master's Degree from the University of Maryland in 1992.

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-119) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in March 2009.  He conducted two EVAs during the mission with fellow astronauts Steven Swanson and Joe Acaba.

His second mission was aboard Soyuz MS-08, launched in March 2018 to the International Space Station as part of the crew of Expedition 55 with fellow astronauts Oleg Artemyev and Andrew Feustel.  They spent over 196 days in space, returning to Earth in October 2018.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Lee Archambault!

Lee Archambault, born August 25, 1960 in Oak Park, Illinois, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights.  After receiving a commission of Second Lieutenant from the US Air Force, he completed pilot training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas.

His first mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-117) as pilot in June 2007 to the International Space Station.  It was the longest flight of Atlantis, lasting almost two weeks.

His second and final mission was aboard Discovery (STS-119) as commander in March 2009 to the ISS.  The mission delivered assembly parts to the space station.

Happy birthday, astronaut Steven Swanson!

Steven Swanson, born December 3, 1960 in Syracuse, New York, grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  He is a veteran of two space shuttle missions and one Soyuz mission.

His first flight into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-117) to the International Space Station in June 2007 as mission specialist. The mission lasted almost two weeks because of bad weather, making it the longest mission for Atlantis.

Swanson's second flight was aboard Discovery (STS-119) in March 2009 to the ISS as mission specialist.  He performed two EVAs during the mission.

His third and last mission was aboard Soyuz TMA-12M to the ISS as part of Expedition 39 and 40, the latter of which he served as commander.  He spent 169 days in space.



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Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Dominic Antonelli!

Dominic "Tony" Antonelli, born August 23, 1967 in Detroit, Michigan, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights.

His first mission was aboard Discovery (STS-119) as pilot in March 2009.  During the mission, he used the ship's robotic arm to grapple the Orbiter Boom Sensor System to scan Discovery for damage from orbital debris.  One of his wake-up calls was Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd!
 
Antonelli's second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-132) again as pilot in May 2010, the next to last mission of Atlantis.  Its primary payload was a Russian research module to the International Space Station.  His wake-up call during this mission was Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd!

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Joe Acaba!

Joseph Acaba, born May 17, 1967 in Inglewood, California, is the first astronaut with Puerto Rican heritage.  His parents moved from Puerto Rico to California in the mid-60s where he was born.

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-119) in March 2009 as mission specialist to the International Space Station.  He conducted two EVAs, which included lubrication of the station arm grapple snares and installation of a Global Positioning System antenna to the Kibo Laboratory.

His second mission was aboard Soyuz TMA-04M May 15, 2012.  He participated in Expeditions 31 and 32, returning to Earth September 17, after almost 125 days in space.

His third mission to the ISS was on Soyuz MS-06, on September 12, 2017, to participate in Expeditions 53 and 54.  During the mission he and Randy Bresnik performed an EVA to continue lubrication of the new end effector on the robotic arm, and to install new cameras.

Discovery (STS-119) launched 2009

Front row (L–R) Tony Antonelli, Lee Archambault. 

Back row (L–R) Joe Acaba, John L. Phillips, Steven Swanson, Richard Arnold, Koichi Wakata.

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-119) was launched March 15, 2009, the 125th shuttle mission and 28th trip to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Lee Archambault, Pilot Tony Antonelli, Joe Acaba, Steven Swanson, Richard Arnold, John L. Phillips and Koichi Wakata from JAXA.

A free-tailed bat was seen clinging to a fuel tank during the launch.  NASA observers thought it was have flown off once the shuttle started to launch but it did not.  A bat doctor analyzed the pictures and believed that it might have had a broken wing which is why it didn't fly away.  It probably was shaken off and incinerated in the rocket exhaust. 

They docked with the ISS on March 17 and crew performed three EVAs during the mission.  Wakata remained on board the ISS as part of Expedition 18.  Sandra Magnus, another member of Expedition 18, returned to Earth with the STS-119 crew March 28.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Sandra Magnus!

Sandra Hall Magnus, born October 30, 1964, in Belleville, Illinois, is the veteran of 4 space shuttle flights and one expedition on the International Space Station.  Her first mission was on Atlantis (STS-112) in October 2002 as a mission specialist.

Her second mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-126) in November 2008 to the International Space Station where she remained for 134 days.  She returned to Earth on Discovery (STS-119 [I don't know why the mission numbers are out of sequence]) in March 2009, the first flight for Joe Acaba (back on the ISS).

Her third and final mission was on Atlantis (STS-135) which was the last mission of the Space Shuttle Program July 2011.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month - Joe Acaba, first Puerto Rican astronaut

Joseph Michael Acaba is the first astronaut of Puerto Rican heritage, His parents lived in Puerto Rico and moved to Inglewood, California where Joe was born.  His first Space Shuttle flight was aboard Discovery (STS-119) in March 2009, which delivered the final solar arrays to the International Space Station.

His second space flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-04M which took him back to the ISS.  The mission lasted from May to September 2012.

Acaba is currently aboard the ISS, having arrived on Soyuz MS-06 which launched just two weeks ago.