Endeavour (STS-61) launched 1993

STS-61 crew

Front row (L-R): Ken Bowersox, Kathryn Thornton, Story Musgrave, Claude Nicollier

Back row (L-R): Richard Covey, Jeffrey Hoffman, Thomas Akers

STS-61 mission patch

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-61), launched December 2, 1993, was the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.  Its crew consisted of Commander Richard Covey, Pilot Ken Bowersox, Kathryn Thornton, Claude Nicollier (ESA), Jeffrey Hoffman, Story Musgrave, and Thomas Akers. The crew conducted 5 EVAs during the mission.  Musgrave and Hoffman conducted three EVAs for a total of around 22 hours.  Thornton and Akers performed two spacewalks for about 13 hours.  

They returned to Earth December 13, after spending almost 11 days in space. 

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Thomas Akers!

Thomas Akers, born May 20, 1951 in St. Louis, Missouri, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first mission was aboard Discovery (STS-41) as mission specialist in October 1990.  The main  objective of the mission was to deploy the Ulysses probe as part of the International Solar Polar Mission.

His second mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-49) as mission specialist in May 1992.  He performed two EVAs with fellow astronauts Pierre Thuot and Kathryn Thornton.

His third mission was back aboard Endeavour (STS-61) as mission specialist in December 1993.  He performed two more EVAs with Kathryn Thornton.

His fourth and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-79) as mission specialist in September 1996 to the space station Mir.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Kenneth Bowersox!

Kenneth Bowersox, born November 14, 1956 in Portsmouth, Virginia, is a veteran of five space shuttle missions. 

His first trip into space was aboard Columbia (STS-50) as pilot in June-July 1992.  The mission carried the first US Microgravity Laboratory into space.

His second trip was aboard Endeavour (STS-61) as pilot in December 1993.  It was the mission that corrected the Hubble Space Telescope's "spherical aberration".

His third trip was aboard Columbia (STS-73) as commander in October-November 1995.  He became the youngest person ever to command a space shuttle at 38 years, 11 months old.

His fourth trip was aboard Discovery (STS-82) as commander in February 1997.  It was the second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

His fifth and final mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-113) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in November 2002.  He served as commander for Expedition 6 with fellow astronaut Donald Pettit and Nikolai Budarin (Roscosmos).  They returned to Earth in May 2003 aboard Soyuz TMA-1.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Kathryn Thornton!

Kathryn Thornton, born August 17, 1952 in Montgomery, Alabama is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.  She obtained her PhD in physics from the University of Virginia in 1979.

Her first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-33) as mission specialist in November 1989.  It carried a classified payload from the Department of Defense into space.

Her second flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-49) as mission specialist in May 1992.  It was the maiden voyage of the Endeavour.  She performed an EVA with fellow astronaut Thomas Akers which lasted 7 hours 44 minutes.

Her third flight was back on Endeavour (STS-61) as mission specialist in December 1993.  She and Akers performed two EVAs lasting over 13 hours total.

Her fourth and final mission was aboard Columbia (STS-73) as mission specialist in October-November 1995.  It was the second mission of the US Microgravity Laboratory which studied the effects of the microgravity environment in space.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Richard Covey!

Richard Covey, born August 1, 1946 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, has flown in space four times. 

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-51-I) as pilot August-September 1985.  He spent just over 7 days in space.

His second flight was again aboard Discovery (STS-26) as pilot September-October 1988.  It was the first flight after the Challenger disaster in 1986.  It was also the first mission with an all-veteran crew since Apollo 11. They stayed in space about 4 days.

His third flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-38) as commander in November 1990.  This mission carried a classified payload for the Department of Defense.  They remained in space for almost 5 days.

Covey's fourth and final mission was as commander on Endeavour (STS-61) in December 1993, which was a Hubble servicing mission.  The crew remained in space for almost 11 days.

Happy birthday, Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier!

Claude Nicollier, born September 2, 1944, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights and Switzerland's first astronaut.

His historic first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-46) as mission specialist in July 1992.  The mission's main objectives were to deploy the ESA's European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) and the joint project between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, the Tethered Satellite System (TSS).

His second mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-61) as mission specialist in December 1993.  Nicollier used Endeavour's robotic arm to capture and re-deploy the Hubble Space Telescope.

His third flight was on Columbia (STS-75) as mission specialist February-March 1996.  The mission's main objective was to deploy another tethered satellite TSS-1R, a 'reflight' from STS-46.

Nicollier's fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-103) in December 1999, another servicing trip to the Hubble Telescope.  Nicollier performed an EVA as part of the maintenance and repair of the Hubble.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman!

Jeffrey Alan Hoffman, born November 2, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York, is a veteran of 5 space shuttle flights and is the first Jewish astronaut from the United States. 

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-51-D) in April 1985, as mission specialist.  Discovery landed at Kennedy Space Center but suffered major brake damage and blew out a tire so future shuttle flights had to land at Edwards Air Force Base until NASA could improve the brake assembly and make it safer.

His second mission was aboard Columbia (STS-35) in December 1990 also as mission specialist.  He and fellow astronaut Sam Durrance conducted the first Space Classroom Program, designed to get children interested in math and science.

His third mission was on Atlantis (STS-46) in July-August 1992.  He flew with the first Italian citizen in space, Franco Malerba. 

His fourth flight was the first servicing mission to the Hubble Telescope, on Endeavour (STS-61) in December 1993.  Launched 3 1/2 years previously, the Hubble Telescope had a "spherical abberation" that distorted images and rendered most of its data unuseable.

Hoffman's fifth and final flight was back on Columbia (STS-75) February-March 1996.  He flew with two more Italian astronauts, Maurizio Cheli and Umberto Guidoni.