Columbia (STS-90) launched 1998

STS-90 crew

Front row (L-R): Scott Altman, Richard Searfoss

Last row (L-R): James Pawelczyk, Richard Linnehan, Kathryn Hire, Davydd Williams, Jay Buckey

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-90), launched April 17, 1998, was the final flight of the European Space Agency's Spacelab laboratory module.  Its crew consisted of Commander Richard Searfoss, Pilot Scott Altman, Dafydd Williams (CSA), Kathryn Hire, Richard Linnehan, Jay Buckey and James Pawelczyk.

The mission continued the exploration of the effects of microgravity on the human nervous system.  The crew returned to Earth on May 3.

Columbia (STS-109) launched 2002

STS-109 crew (L-R): Michael Massimino, Richard Linnehan, Duane Carey, Scott Altman, Nancy Currie, John Grunsfeld, James Newman

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-109), launched March 1, 2002, was the fourth mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.  Its crew consisted of Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey, John Grunsfeld, Nancy Currie, Richard Linnehan, James Newman, and Michael Massimino.

Five EVAs were conducted during the mission.  Grunsfeld and Linnehan performed 3 EVAs and Newman and Massimino performed two.  The crew returned to Earth March 12.

It was the last successful flight of Columbia before its disaster upon re-entry in 2003.

Atlantis (STS-106) launched 2000

STS-106 crew

Front row (L-R): Scott Altman, Terrence Wilcutt

Back row (L-R): Borus Morukov, Richard Mastracchio, Edward Lu, Daniel Burbank, Yuri Malenchenko

STS-106 Mission patch

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-106), launched September 8, 2000, carried seven astronauts to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Terrence Wilcutt, Pilot Scott Altman, Edward Lu, Richard Mastracchio, Daniel Burbank, Yuri Malenchenko and Borus Morukov.

Lu and Malenchenko conducted an EVA lasting 6 hours 14 minutes.

The crew returned to Earth September 20.

Atlantis (STS-125) launched 2009

STS-125 crew (L-R): Mike Massimino, Michael Good, Gregory C. Johnson, Scott Altman, Megan McArthur,  John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-125), launched May 11, 2009, was the fifth and final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Its crew consisted of Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Greg C. Johnson, Michael Good, Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Andrew Feustel.

Three of the astronauts had already worked on the Hubble Telescope on previous missions.  Scott Altman, Mike Massimino and John Grunsfeld were all on STS-109, the fourth servicing mission.  Grunsfeld had also traveled to Hubble on STS-103. 

On Day 7, the crew woke up to New York State of Mind by Billy Joel, chosen by Mike Massimino.

Happy birthday, astronaut/Top Gun pilot Scott Altman!

Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman, born August 15, 1959 in Illinois, is an astronaut with four Space Shuttle missions under his belt but he will probably be best known as the pilot in Top Gun, who gives the finger to the Soviet fighter pilots.

He entered the U.S. Navy in 1981 and became a figher pilot and was awarded the Air Medal for being a strike leader in support of Operation Southern Watch.  He performed aerial stunts in Top Gun including buzzing the tower and the scene mentioned above.

As if that wasn't exciting enough, he became an astronaut in 1994 and flew on four flights, logging 40 days in space.  His first mission was April 17-May 3, 1998 on Columbia (STS-90).  Then he flew on Atlantis in September 2000 (STS-106) to the International Space Station to get it ready for a permanenet crew.  His third mission was in March 2002 aboard Columbia (STS-109) to the Hubble Space Telescope to perform maintenance.  His final mission (STS-125) on Atlantis was the last servicing mission to the Hubble Telescope.  This mission was filmed in IMAX.

He retired from NASA in 2010 and is working somewhere over here in Greenbelt, MD.