Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Robert Curbeam!

Robert Curbeam, born March 5, 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland(!), has been in space three times.  After graduation from the US Naval Academy with a Master's Degree in Astronautical Engineering in 1991, he was selected by NASA in Dec 1994.  

His first mission into space was aboard Discovery (STS-85) as mission specialist in August 1997. One of the experiments was the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging Systems from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas (I've been there!) and the University of Maryland (I've been by there!).

His second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-98) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in February 2001.  During the mission, he performed three EVAs with fellow astronaut Thomas Jones for almost 20 hours total.

His third and final mission was aboard Discovery (STS-116) to the International Space Station in December 2006.  He conducted four spacewalks for about 25 1/2 hours total, setting the record for the most EVAs during a mission.  

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Stephen Robinson!

Stephen Robinson, born October 26, 1955 in Sacramento, California, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-85) as mission specialist in August 1997.  The mission lasted almost 12 days.

His second flight was again on Discovery (STS-95) as mission specialist in October-November 1998. One of his fellow astronaut was US Senator John Glenn, his second trip into space.

His third flight was aboard Discovery (STS-114) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in July-August 2005.  It was the "Return to Flight" space shuttle mission, the first following the Columbia disaster in 2003.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-130) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in February 2010. 

Kent Rominger, Space Shuttle astronaut, born 1956

Ken Rominger, born August 7, 1956 in Del Norte, Colorado, is a veteran of five space shuttle flights.  

His first flight was aboard Columbia (STS-73) as pilot in October 1995.  It was the second mission of the US Microgravity Laboratory.  

His second flight was aboard Columbia (STS-80) as pilot in November-December 1996. It was the longest Shuttle mission at 17 days, 15 hours and 53 minutes.

His third flight was aboard Discovery (STS-85) as pilot in August 1997.  Rominger was originally not assigned to this flight, but replaced Jeffrey Ashby, who asked to be relieved in order to take care of his dying wife.

His fourth flight was aboard Discovery (STS-96) as commander to the International Space Station in May-June 1999.

His fifth and final flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-100) as commander to the ISS in April-May 2001.  The mission installed the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Jan Davis!

Jan Davis, born November 1, 1953 in Cocoa Beach, Florida, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights.

Her first mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-47) as mission specialist in September 1992.  She had secretly married fellow astronaut Mark Lee just a few weeks before.  By the time NASA found out about it, it was too late to change their rule about "husband and wife" teams not flying on the same mission.

Her second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-60) as mission specialist in February 1994.  It was the first Space Shuttle/Mir mission and the first time a Russian cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev, flew on a space shuttle.

Her third and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-85) in August 1997.  She operated the shuttle's robotic arm for the entire trip.

Happy birthday, Icelandic astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason!

Bjarni Tryggvason, born September 21, 1945 in Reykjavik, Iceland, is an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency and went into space on the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-85) as payload specialist in August 1997.  Although born in Iceland, he grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia.

During the mission, his primary role was performing fluid dynamics experiments to examine sensitivity to spacecraft vibrations using the Microgravity Vibration Isolation Mount (MIM).  The experiments were to study the effects of vibrations on the experiments performed on the International Space Station.

Discovery (STS-85) launched 1997

STS-85 crew:

Seated (L-R): Kent Rominger, Curtis Brown

Standing (L-R): Robert Curbeam, Stephen Robinson, Nancy Jan Davis, Bjarni Tryggvason

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-85) blasted off August 7, 1997 with the first Icelandic-born astronaut, Bjarni Tryggvason, payload specialist.  The rest of the crew consisted of Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Kent Rominger, Nancy Jan Davis, Robert Curbeam, and Stephen Robinson.  Tryggvason was an astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency. 

This was the fourth cooperative mission between the German Space Agency and NASA.  The crew returned to Earth August 19, a day later than scheduled due to fog at the Kennedy Space Center.

Celebrating Black History Month - Robert Curbeam, most spacewalks during space shuttle mission

Astronaut Robert Curbeam, born March 5, 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland(!), has performed the most  spacewalks (four) in a single mission.  He accomplished this record during  his third and final space shuttle mission on Discovery (STS-116) in December 2006.

His first flight was on Discovery (STS-85) in August 1997 and his second was on Atlantis (STS-98) in February 2001 when he conducted three EVAs.