Jose Hernandez, born August 7, 1962 in French Camp, California, went into space aboard Discovery (STS-128) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in August 2009. He spent almost 14 days in space. He retired from NASA in January 2011. He is one of about 14 Hispanic astronauts who have flown with NASA.
Nicole Stott, born November 19, 1962 in Albany, New York, has been in space two times.
Her first trip was aboard Discovery (STS-128) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in August 2009. She performed an EVA with fellow astronaut John Olivas for 6 hours and 35 minutes.
Stott remained on board the ISS as part of Expeditions 20 and 21. She returned Earth aboard Atlantis (STS-129) in November 2009.
Her second and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-133) as mission specialist to the ISS in February-March 2011. She has stayed more than 103 days in space.
John "Danny" Olivas, born May 25, 1965 in North Hollywood, California, is a veteran of two space shuttle missions.
His first mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-117) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in June 2007. He conducted two EVAs during the mission with fellow astronaut James Reilly.
His second and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-128) as mission specialist to the ISS in August-September 2009. He conducted three EVAs with fellow astronauts Nicole Stott and Christer Fuglesang.
Timothy Kopra, born April 9, 1963 in Austin, Texas, has traveled twice into space.
His first flight into space was aboard space shuttle Endeavour (STS-127) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in July 2009. He remained aboard the ISS as part of Expedition 20 and returned to Earth on Discovery (STS-128) in September 2009.
His second and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-19M om December 2015. He participated in Expeditions 46 and 47, returning to Earth in June 2016.
He spent 244 days in space, and conducted 3 EVAs.
In 2006, he participated as an aquanaut in the Aquarius underwater laboratory during the NEEMO 11 mission.
Patrick Forrester, born March 31, 1957 in El Paso, Texas, is a veteran of three space shuttle missions.
His first mission was aboard Discovery (STS-105) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in August 2001. He conducted 2 EVAs with fellow astronaut Daniel Barry for over 12 hours total.
His second mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-117) as mission specialist to the ISS in June 2007. He conducted two more EVAs with fellow astronaut Steven Swanson for almost 14 hours.
His third and final mission was aboard Discovery (STS-128) as mission specialist to the ISS in August-September 2009, but he did not do any EVAs during this trip into space.
Christer Fuglesang, an astronaut for the European Space Agency born March 18, 1957 in Stockholm, Sweden, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights and is the first Swedish astronaut.
His first spaceflight was on Discovery (STS-116) as mission specialist in December 2006 to the International Space Station. He conducted 3 EVAs during the flight with fellow astronaut Robert Curbeam. Ground Control played Waterloo by ABBA as one of Fuglesang's wake-up calls.
HIs second and final flight was on Discovery (STS-128) as mission specialist in August-September 2009 to the ISS. During the mission he conducted two EVAs with fellow astronaut John Olivas.
Frederick Sturckow, born August 11, 1961 in La Mesa, California, flew on four space shuttle missions.
His first mission into space was aboard Endeavour (STS-88) as pilot in December 1998. It was the first space shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
His second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-105) as pilot in August 2001. It carried Expedition 3 to the ISS and returned with Expedition 2.
His third trip was aboard Atlantis (STS-117) as commander in June 2007. He performed the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver (RPM), which is a "back flip" to allow the crew of the ISS to photograph the heat shields of the shuttle's belly.
Sturckow's fourth and final space shuttle mission was on Discovery (STS-128) as commander in August-September 2008. It was the final mission to land at Edwards Air Force Base.
Sturckow retired from the Marine Corps as colonel in 2009.
Sturckow is currently test flying Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo spacecraft as they prepare for commercial operations in outer space.
Kevin Ford, born July 7, 1960 in Montpelier, Indiana, has made two trips to the International Space Station, once via the Space Shuttle, the other via Soyuz.
His first flight to the ISS was on Discovery (STS-128) as pilot August-September 2009. It was the final space shuttle flight used for ISS crew rotation.
Ford's second trip was as Flight Engineer aboard Soyuz TMA-06M in October 2012 as part of Expeditions 33-34. He returned to Earth March 2013.
John Daniel Olivas and Jose Moreno Hernandez, both born in California, are Mexican-American astronauts, who flew together on Discovery (STS-128) in August-September 2009. It was the first Space Shuttle flight with two Hispanics on board. Olivas had flown on Atlantis (STS-117) in June 2007. During mission STS-128, Olivas performed three EVAs.
Standing (L-R): Jose Hernandez, John Olivas, Nicole Stott, Christer Fuglesang, Patrick Forrester
Discovery took off August 28, 2009, the 25th anniversary of its first flight just seconds before midnight, so NASA can say it is the first (probably the only) time a launch took place over two calendar days.
Her crew consisted of Commander Frederick Sturckow, Pilot Kevin Ford, Mission specialist 1 Patrick Forrester, Mission Specialist 2 Jose Hernandez, Mission Specialist 3 John Olivas, Mission Specialist 4 Christer Fuglesang (ESA - Sweden) and Mission Specialist Nicole Stott.
It is the first time two astronauts of Mexican heritage were in space at the same time. Olivas performed 3 EVAs, once with Stott and twice with Fuglesang.
