Endeavour (STS-100) launched 2001

STS-100 crew

Front row (L-R): Yury Lonchakov, Ken Rominger, Umberto Guidoni, Jeffrey Ashby, John Phillips

Back row (L-R): Scott Parazynski, Chris Hadfield

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-100), launched April 19, 2001, installed the Canadarm2 robotic arm on the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Jeffrey Ashby, Chris Hadfield (CSA), John Phillips, Scott Parazynski, Umberto Guidoni (ESA), and Yury Lonchakov (Roscosmos).  

Parazynski and Hadfield conducted two EVAs for almost 15 hours.  

The crew returned to Earth May 1, 2001.

Happy birthday, astronaut Douglas Wheelock!

Douglas Wheelock, born May 5, 1960 in Binghamton, New York, has been in space twice.

His first trip was aboard Discovery (STS-120) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in October-November 2007.  During the mission, he conducted three EVAs with fellow astronaut Scott Parazynski.  They returned to Earth after about 15 days.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-19 as flight engineer in June 2010 to the International Space Station.  He participated in Expeditions 24 and 25.  He remained in space about 150 days.

In June 2004, he participated in expedition NEEMO 6 in NASA's Aquarius Underwater Laboratory. 

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Vladimir Titov!

Vladimir Georgiyevich Titov, born January 1, 1947 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of four space flights.

His first trip into space was aboard Soyuz T-8 as commander to Salyut 7 in April 1983 but the spacecraft failed to dock and they had to return to Earth two days later.

His second mission was aboard Soyuz T-10-1, which was also a planned trip to Salyut 7 in September 1983, but the spacecraft exploded on the launch pad, and he and fellow cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov had to use the escape system.

His next attempt was successful.  He blasted off in Soyuz TM-4 as commander in December 1987 to the Mir space station, as part of Mir EO-3 expedition.  He remained aboard for a year and returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-6 in December 1988.

His third mission was aboard Discovery (STS-63) as mission specialist in February 1995 to Mir.

His fourth and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-86) to Mir September-October 1997 as mission specialist.  He performed an EVA with fellow astronaut Scott Parazynski for about 5 hours.

Atlantis (STS-86) launched 1997

Front row (L-R): Michael Bloomfield, James Wetherbee, Wendy Lawrence; 

Back row: Jean-Loup Chrétien, Scott Parazynski, Vladimir Titov, Michael Foale.

(This picture must have been taken after the flight since Wolf is not in it.)

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-86), launched September 25, 1997, was the seventh shuttle mission to Mir and the last before Atlantis was taken out of service for maintenance and upgrades.  Its crew consisted of Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Michael Bloomfield, Vladimir Titov (Roscosmos), Scott Parazynski, Jean-Loup Chretien (National Center for Space Studies), Wendy Lawrence and David Wolf.

Wolf replaced Michael Foale as the resident U.S. astronaut on Mir, the decision made only the night before the launch by NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin.  There had been political pressure on NASA to discontinue American astronauts on Mir after problems during Foale's residence and his predecessor Jerry Linenger. 

Parazynski and Titov conducted one EVA for about 5 hours.

The crew, with Foale instead of Wolf, landed October 6.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Scott Parazynski!

Scott Parazynski, born July 28, 1961 in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a veteran of five space shuttle missions and seven spacewalks.

His first mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-66) as mission specialist in November 1994.  It was the last solo flight for Atlantis until 2009.  Until then, her missions were either to Mir or the International Space Station.

His second mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-86) as mission specialist to Mir September-October 1997.  He performed an EVA with fellow astronaut Vladimir Titov (Roscosmos) which lasted about 5 hours.

Parazynski's third flight was aboard Discovery (STS-95) as mission specialist in October-November 1998.  John Glenn made history by going into space at 77 years old on this trip.


His fourth flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-100) as mission specialist April-May 2001 to the International Space Station.  Parazynski performed two EVAs with fellow astronaut Chris Hadfield for a total of almost 15 hours.

Scott's fifth and final flight was on Discovery (STS-120) as mission specialist October-November 2007.   He conducted four EVAs, three with Douglas Wheelock, and one with Daniel Tani, for a total of 27 hours and 14 minutes.

Atlantis (STS-66) launched 1994, first flight for Jean-Francois "Billy Bob" Clervoy

(L-R): Jean-Francois Clervoy, Scott Parazynski, Curtis Brown, Jr., Joseph Tanner, Donald McMonagle, Ellen Ochoa

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-66) blasted off November 3, 1994 from Kennedy Space Center.  It was the first flight for astronauts Joseph Tanner, Scott Parazynski, and Jean-Francois Clervoy, astronaut from the National Centre for Space Studies, the French space agency.  It was also the second flight for the first Latina in space, Ellen Ochoa. 

Clervoy's fellow astronauts nicknamed him "Billy Bob" since they had trouble pronouncing his name.

The crew took advantage of the timing to study the hole in ozone over the Antarctic.  For the next 14 years, Atlantis' flights were dedicated to Mir or the International Space Station until the repair mission to the Hubble Telescope  in 2009.

Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base November 14.

Discovery (STS-120) launched 2007

L-R: Parazynski, Wheelock, Wilson, Zamka, Melroy, Tani, Nespoli

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-120) took off October 23, 2007, being the 23rd mission to the International Space Station.  Commander Pamela Melroy was the second woman after Eileen Collins to become commander of a space shuttle mission.  When they docked with the ISS, Peggy Whitson was commander of the space station so for the first time, there were two female mission commanders in space.

The rest of the crew consisted of Pilot George Zamka, Mission Specialist 1 Douglas Wheelock, Mission Specialist 2 Stephanie Wilson, Mission Specialist 3, Scott Parazynski, Mission Specialist 4 Paolo Nespoli (on the ISS right now!), and Mission Specialist 5 Daniel Tani.

John Glenn returns to space 1998

Space Shuttle Discovery Crew - Back row: Mission Specialist 2 Scott E. Parazynski, Payload Specialist 1 Chiaki Mukai, Mission Specialist 1 Pedro Duque, Payload Specialist 2 John H. Glenn, Jr.

Front row: Pilot Steven W. Lindsey, Commander Curtis L. Brown, Jr.

Astronaut and senator John Glenn returned to space on board the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-95), October 29, 1998.  He became the oldest man to date to go into space.  Also aboard was Pedro Duque of Spain, the country's first astronaut.  The rest of the crew consisted of Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Steven Lindsey, Scott Parazynski, Stephen Robinson and Chiaki Mukai.

Glenn made history as part of NASA's Mercury project to become the first American to orbit Earth. in the Friendship 7 in 1962.  His second return to space was at the age of 77 as a payload specialist.  NASA conducted experiments on Glenn while in space to give them an understanding of the effects of space on aging.