Happy birthday, astronaut James Voss!

Astronaut James Voss, born March 3, 1949 in Cordova, Alabama, is a veteran of 5 space shuttle flights. He graduated from Auburn University in 1972 with a Bachelor's Degree in Aerospace Engineering, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army.  He attended the University of Colorado and graduated with a Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

His first trip into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-44) as mission specialist in November-December 1991. The crew was scheduled for a ten-day mission but was scrubbed after only 6 days, due to failure of one of the three orbiter inertial measurement units.

His second trip was aboard Discovery (STS-53) as mission specialist in December 1992.  The payload was a classified by the US Department of Defense.  Voss and the crew spent over 7 days in space.

His third mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-69) as mission specialist in September 1995.  During the mission, Voss conducted an EVA with fellow astronaut Michael Gernhardt which lasted o6 hours 46 minutes.  The crew spent nearly 11 days in space.

Voss's fourth trip into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-101) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in May 2000.  During the mission, he conducted another EVA with fellow astronaut Jeffrey Williams which lasted 6 hours and 44 minutes. The crew spent nearly 10 days in space.

His fifth and final mission was aboard Discovery (STS-102) as mission specialist launched in March 2001 to the International Space Station.  Along with fellow astronauts Susan Helms (who celebrated her birthday last week) and cosmonaut Yuri Usachov, he participated in Expedition 2 aboard the ISS.  He and Voss conducted the longest EVA to date: 8 hours, 56 minutes. They returned to Earth in August 2001 aboard Discovery (STS-105).

Overall, Voss has spent over 202 days in space.

David Walker, Space Shuttle astronaut, born 1944

David Walker, born May 20, 1944 in Columbus, Georgia, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-51-A) as pilot in November 1984.  The flight recovered two satellites.

His second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-30) as commander in May 1989.  The primary objective of the mission was to deploy the Magellan spacecraft to Venus.

His third flight was aboard Discovery (STS-53) as commander in December 1992.  It was a mission dedicated to the US Department of Defense.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-69) as commander in September 1995.  It was the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility.

He passed away from cancer in April 2001.

Endeavour (STS-69) launched 1995

STS-69 crew

Seated (L-R): Kenneth Cockrell, David Walker; 

Standing (L-R): Michael Gernhardt, James Newman, James Voss

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-69) launched September 7, 1995 for the 100th successful manned spaceflight for NASA.  Its crew consisted of Commander David Walker, Pilot Kenneth Cockrell, James Voss, James Newman, and Michael Gernhardt.

It was also the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility.  Other experiments investigated bone loss during space flights, monitoring and measuring long-term variations in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) from the sun and tested assembly techniques for the International Space Station.

They returned to Earth September 18.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Mike Gernhardt!

Michael L. Gernhardt, born May 4, 1956 in Mansfield, Ohio, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights and three missions to NASA's Aquarius underwater laboratory.

His first mission was as mission  specialist on Endeavour (STS-69) in September 1995, NASA's 100th successful manned spaceflight.

His second flight, also as mission specialist was on Columbia (STS-83) in April 1997, but the mission was cut short due to a problem with a fuel cell.

His third mission was STS-94 on Columbia in July 1997.  This was the "reflight" of STS-83, which was cut short.

His fourth flight was on Atlantis (STS-104) in July 2001 to the International Space Station. He conducted three  EVAs during the mission.

In April 2005, he commanded NEEMO 8, in NASA's Aquarius underwater laboratory.  NEEMO stands for NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations.  His second mission underwater was for NEEMO 15, when he piloted the DeepWorker submersible, a small submarine which is a "stand-in" for a Space Exploration Vehicle that may one day explore an asteroid.

Most recently, he piloted hte DeepWorker submersible during NEEMO 16, for which he was principal investigator.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Kenneth Cockrell!

Kenneth Cockrell, born April 9, 1950 in Austin, Texas, is a veteran of five shuttle missions.  He was selected as an astronaut in January 1990.

His first flight was on Discovery (STS-56) as mission specialist in April 1993. 

His second flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-69) as pilot in September 1995.  During the mission, the Wake Shield Facility was deployed.

His third mission was on Columbia (STS-80) as commander November-December 1996.

He served as commander on his fourth mission on Atlantis (STS-98) to the International Space Station in February 2001, the first flight of the 21st century.

His final mission was on Endeavour (STS-111) in June 2002 to the ISS.  The mission carried the crew of Expedition 5 and returned with Expedition 4.

In 2006, he was reassigned to the Flight Crew Operations' Aircraft Operations Division at Ellington Field.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut James Newman!

James Hansen Newman, born October 16, 1956 in what is now the Federated States of Micronesia, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.  After obtaining his doctoral degree in physics from Rice University, he completed an additional year of post-doc work and began his astronaut training in July 1990.

His first space shuttle mission was aboard Discovery (STS-51) in September 1993. Although manay scientific experiements were carried out, the main focus of the mission was repairing the Hubble Telescope.  Newman and Carl Walz performed a 7-hour EVA as part of the Hubble repair.

His second flight was STS-69, aboard Endeavour in September 1995.  It was the 100th successful manned NASA flights, not counting X-15s. 

Newman's third mission was on Endeavour again (STS-88) in December 1998.  Newman performed 3 EVAs with Jerry Ross completing the Unity module which is the first U.S.-built component of the International Space Station. 

His final flight was on Columbia (STS-109) in March 2002.  He participated in 2 of 5 spacewalks on this mission to do additional repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope.