Happy birthday, astronaut Brian Duffy!

Brian Duffy, born June 20, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts, has been in space four times. He graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1975 and was selected by NASA to become an astronaut in June 1985.

His first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-45) as pilot in March-April 1992.  He spent almost 9 days in space before returning to Earth. 

His second mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-57) as pilot in June-July 1993. He spent 10 days in space before returning to Earth. 

Duffy's third mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-72) as commander January 11-20, 1996. He spent almost 9 days in space before returning to Earth.

His fourth and final mission was aboard Discovery (STS-92) as commander to the International Space Station October 11-24, 2000. He spent 13 days in space before returning to Earth.

Duffy was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame May 14, 2016.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut, Pamela Melroy!

Pamela Melroy, born September 17, 1961 in Palo Alto, California, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights.  She is the second woman after Eileen Collins to command a Space Shuttle mission.

Her first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-92) as pilot to the International Space Station in October 2000.  It was the 100th Space Shuttle mission.

Her second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-112) as pilot to the ISS in October 2002.  One of her wake-up songs was Prime Time by the Alan Parsons Project!

Her third and last mission was aboard Discovery (STS-120) as commander to the ISS in October-November 2007.  She met Peggy Whitson, who was commander of the ISS at the time.  It was the first time two female commanders were in space simultaneously.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Peter (Jeff) Wisoff!

Peter "Jeff" Wisoff, born August 16, 1958 in Norfolk, Virginia, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-57) as mission specialist in June-July 1993.  He conducted a spacewalk with fellow astronaut David Low last almost 6 hours to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) science satellite.

His second flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-68) as mission specialist in September-October 1994. Wisoff relayed information of storms, lightning and fires to the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-2) scientists.

Wisoff's third mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-81) as mission specialist in January 1997.  It was the fifth space shuttle mission to the space station Mir.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-92) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in October 2000, the 100th space shuttle mission of the program.  During the flight Wisoff performed two EVAs with fellow astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria for a total of 14 hours.

Wisoff is married to fellow astronaut Tamara Jernigan.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut William McArthur!

William McArthur, born July 26, 1951 in Laurinburg, North Carolina, is a veteran of three space shuttle missions and one trip to the International Space Station.

His first mission was aboard Columbia (STS-58) as mission specialist October-November 1993. During the flight, he tested the Lower Body Negative Pressure device as a countermeasure for the detrimental effects of microgravity.

His second mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-74) as mission specialist in November 1995.  He inspected spacesuits that would be needed in case an EVA would be needed.  It wasn't.

McArthur's third flight was aboard Discovery (STS-92) as mission specialist in October 2000.  He performed two EVAs during the mission with fellow astronaut Leroy Chiao for a total time of 14 hours.

His fourth and final trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-7 as flight engineer to the ISS in October 2005- April 2006 as part of Expedition 12.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Michael López-Alegría!

Michael Lopez-Alegria, born May 30, 1958 in Madrid, Spain, is a veteran of three space shuttle missions and one Soyuz mission.  He was raised in Mission Viejo, California and became a Naval Aviator in 1981.  Part of his naval experience was over here at the NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

His first mission in space was on Columbia (STS-73) October-November 1995 as mission specialist.

His second trip was on Discovery (STS-92) in October 2000 as mission specialist. He conducted two EVAs with fellow astronaut Peter Wisoff.

His third shuttle mission was as mission specialist on Endeavour (STS-113) November-December 2002.  Lopez-Alegria conducted 3 more EVAs with fellow astronaut John Herrington.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-9, launched September 18, 2006 to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14.  He returned to Earth April 21, 2007.

He holds the second all-time record for EVA duration (67 hours, 40 minutes).  He has the third longest stay in space of American astronauts - 215 days.

Lopez-Alegria retired from NASA March 12, 2012.

Discovery, 100th Space Shuttle mission, launched 2000

Front row (L-R): Melroy, Duffy; 

Back row (L-R): Chiao, Lopez-Alegria, McArthur, Wisoff, Wakata

Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off October 11, 2000 on the 100th mission (STS-92) of the space shuttle program.  Seven astronauts docked with the International Space Station for seven days and performed 4 EVAs.

Discovery's crew consisted of Commander Brian Duffy, Pilot Pamela Melroy (remember her? She was the one who had Alan Parsons Project's Prime Time as her wake up call!), Mission Specialist 1 Koichi Wakata (remember him?  He would be the first Japanese commander of the ISS!), Mission Specialist 2 William McArthur, Mission Specialist 3 Peter Wisoff, Mission Specialist 4 Michael Lopez-Alegria (remember him? He's the first Spanish-born astronaut in space!), and Mission Specialist 5 Leroy Chiao (remember him?  He's the one who saw UFO lights during an EVA!).

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month - Michael López-Alegría, first Spanish-born astronaut

Michael Lopez-Alegria, born in Madrid, Spain, moved to the U.S. with his parents when he was about two years old.  He grew up in southern California and has been on 3 Space Shuttle flights and one Soyuz mission.

His first mission was on board Columbia (STS-73) in October-November 1995 as a mission specialist.  His second flight was on Discovery (STS-92) in October 2000 also as a mission specialist.  His final flight was on Endeavour (STS-113) in November-December 2002.

In September 2006, Lopez-Alegria took off in Soyuz TMA-9 as Flight Engineer to the International Space Station where he became commander of Expedition 14.  He returned to Earth in April 2007.

Lopez-Alegriz holds the record for an American astronaut for number of EVAs (10) and total duration of EVAs (67 hours, 40 minutes - that's almost 3 days!).  He holds the second-longest record for total duration of EVAs for a human, behind only Anatoly Solovyev.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut & UFO spotter, Leroy Chiao!

Leroy Chiao, born August 28, 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a veteran of 3three Space Shuttle flights and one Soyuz mission to the International Space Station.  He received a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1987.

His first mission was on board Columbia (STS-65) in July 1994, which carried the first Japanese woman in to space, Chiaki Mukai.

Chiao's second trip was on board Endeavour (STS-72) in January 1996 and his third was aboard Discovery in October 2000 (STS-92).  Since he was fluent in Mandarin Chinese, he studied Russian and flew to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TMA-5, Expedition 10, in October 2004.  He remained on the ISS until April 2005.

Here is some interesting footage of him experiencing strange lights during an EVA: