Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Marsha Ivins!

Marsha Ivins, born April 15, 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland, is a veteran of five space shuttle flights.

Her first flight was aboard Columbia (STS-32) as mission specialist in January 1990, the first mission of the 1990s.

Her second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-46) as mission specialist in July-August 1992.  One of the objectives of the mission was to deploy the NASA/Italian Space Agency joint project, the Tethered Satellite System (TSS).

Her third flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-62) as mission specialist in March 1994.  During the mission, she spoke with students at Bronx High School of Science, who asked her questions about experiments being conducted in space.

Her fourth flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-81) as mission specialist in January 1997 to the space station Mir.  It was the fifth space shuttle mission mission to Mir.

Her fifth and final flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-98) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in February 2001.  The crew delivered the Destiny Laboratory Module to the ISS.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Andrew Allen!

Andrew Allen, born August 4, 1955 in Richboro, Pennsylvania, is a veteran of three space shuttle missions.  He obtained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marine Corps.

His first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-46) as pilot in July-August 1992. The mission deployed the Eruopean Space Agency's European Retrievable Carrier and the Tethered Satellite System, a joint project between NASA and the Italian Space Agency.

His second flight was as pilot on Columbia (STS-62) in March 1994 with fellow astronaut/birthday twin Charles Gemar.

His third and final flight was aboard Columbia (STS-75) as commander in February-March 1996. The mission was a reflight of the Tethered Satellite System.

Allen has spent 37 days, 16 hours in space.

Happy birthday, Italian astronaut Franco Malerba!

Franco Malerba, born October 10, 1945, went into space aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-46) as payload specialist in July-August 1992.  He is the first Italian citizen in space.  He was part of the Tethered Satellite System project, which was a joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency.  However the satellite could not be deployed due to a tangled tether line and the project was scrubbed until STS-75 in 1996.

Happy birthday, Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier!

Claude Nicollier, born September 2, 1944, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights and Switzerland's first astronaut.

His historic first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-46) as mission specialist in July 1992.  The mission's main objectives were to deploy the ESA's European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) and the joint project between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, the Tethered Satellite System (TSS).

His second mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-61) as mission specialist in December 1993.  Nicollier used Endeavour's robotic arm to capture and re-deploy the Hubble Space Telescope.

His third flight was on Columbia (STS-75) as mission specialist February-March 1996.  The mission's main objective was to deploy another tethered satellite TSS-1R, a 'reflight' from STS-46.

Nicollier's fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-103) in December 1999, another servicing trip to the Hubble Telescope.  Nicollier performed an EVA as part of the maintenance and repair of the Hubble.