Happy birthday, astronaut Robert "Hoot" Gibson!

Robert "Hoot" Gibson, born October 30, 1946 in Cooperstown, New York, is a veteran of five space shuttle missions.

His first mission was as pilot on Challenger (STS-41-B) in February 1984.  It was the first flight to involve an untethered spacewalk.  He spent almost 8 days in space and completed 128 orbits.

His second flight was aboard Columbia (STS-61-C) as commander in January 1986, the last shuttle mission before the Challenger disaster. He spent over 6 days in space and completed 98 orbits.

Gibson's third mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-27) as commander in December 1988.  It was a classified payload for the US Department of Defense. He spent over four days in space and completed 68 orbits.

His fourth flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-47) as commander in September 1992.  He carried the first Japanese astronaut, Mamoru Mohri, and the first African-American woman, Mae Jemison into space.  He spent almost 8 days in space and completed 126 orbits.

His fifth and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-71) in June-July 1995 to the Russian space station Mir.  It was the first space shuttle docking with Mir.  He spent almost 10 days in space and completed 153 orbits. 

He married fellow astronaut Rhea Seddon in May 1981.  He retired from NASA in November 1996 and became a pilot for Southwest Airlines.  

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut and US Senator Bill Nelson!

Bill Nelson, born September 29, 1942 in Miami, Florida, went into space aboard Columbia (STS-61-C) as payload specialist in January 1986.   He was in space for over 6 days.  He was a member of the US House of Representatives from January 1979 to January 1991.  He was a United States Senator from January 2001 to January 2019.

Happy birthday, astronaut and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden!

Charles Bolden, born August 19, 1946 in Columbia, South Carolina, is a veteran of four space shuttle missions and a former NASA administrator.

His first trip into space was aboard Columbia (STS-61-C) as pilot in January 1986.  He was the second African-American to pilot a space shuttle.

His second trip was aboard Discovery (STS-31) as pilot in April 1990.  The mission launched the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.

His third trip was aboard Atlantis (STS-45) as commander in March-April 1992.  It was a nine-day mission of scientific experiments.

His fourth and final trip was aboard Discovery (STS-60) as commander in February 1994.  During the mission, the crew managed a link-up with the cosmonauts on Mir.

President Obama appointed Bolden as NASA's administrator in 2009.  He resigned from NASA in 2017.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut George Nelson!

George Nelson, born July 13, 1950 in Charles City, Iowa, is a veteran of three space flights.

His first trip was aboard Challenger (STS-41-C) as a mission specialist in April 1984.  He conducted two EVAs with fellow astronaut James van Hoften for a little over 10 hours.

His second trip was aboard Columbia (STS-61-C) as mission specialist in January 1986.  The mission was delayed four times and resulted in a delay for the next launch. 

His third and final trip was aboard Discovery (STS-26) as mission specialist in September-October 1988.  It was the "Return to Flight" mission, the first flight after the Challenger disaster.

Columbia (STS-61-C) launched 1986

STS-61-C crew

Front row (L-R): Robert Cenker, Charles Bolden, Robert Gibson, Franklin Chang Diaz

Back row (L-R): Bill Nelson, Steven Hawley, George Nelson

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-61-C), launched January 12, 1986, was the last space shuttle flight before the Challenger disaster. Its crew consisted of Commander Robert Gibson, Pilot Charles Bolden, George Nelson, Steven Hawley, Franklin Chang-Diaz, William Nelson and Robert Cenker.

It was the first flight for Franklin Chang Diaz, the first Latin-American immigrant to go into space.  It was the second mission to have an African-American pilot - Charles Bolden.  Bolden would go onto become NASA Administrator.  It was the second mission to have a sitting politician on board - Bill Nelson (D-Florida).  It was Robert Cenker's only space flight. It might be the first time two astronauts with the same last name were on board.

They returned to Earth January 18.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Steve Hawley!

Steven Hawley, born December 12, 1951 in Ottawa, Kansas, is a veteran of 5 space shuttle flights, logging over 770 hours in space.

His first mission was aboard the maiden voyage of Discovery (STS-41-D) as mission specialist August-September 1984.  Portions of the mission were filmed for the IMAX motion picture The Dream is Alive.

His second flight was aboard Columbia (STS-61-C) in January 1986 as mission specialist.  It was the last successful space shuttle flight before the Challenger disaster, which occurred only 10 days after Columbia landed.

Hawley's third flight was on Discovery (STS-31) in April 1990.  During this flight, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed.

His fourth flight was on Discovery(!) (STS-82) in February 1997.  His primary role was to operate the Discovery's robotic arm to retrieve and redeploy the Hubble Telescope after upgrades and repairs.

Hawley's fifth and final flight was on Columbia (STS-93) in July 1999 as flight engineer.  The Chandra X-ray Observatory was deployed during the mission.

Happy birthday, space shuttle astronaut Dr. Franklin Chang- Díaz!

I've written about Dr. Franklin Chang Diaz several times before since he has achieved a number of firsts for astronauts.  Born April 5, 1950 in San Jose, Costa Rica, he became an American citizen in 1977 and was selected as an astronaut in 1980.

He is the first Hispanic American astronaut and the third Latin American in space.  His grandfather fled China during the Boxer Rebellion, so Chang Diaz has Chinese ancestry as well.  He is tied with Jerry Ross for the most space shuttle missions, at seven:

STS-61-C
STS-34
STS-46
STS-60
STS-75
STS-91
STS-111

He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame May 5, 2012.