Discovery (STS-105) launched 2001

STS-105 crew

Center (L-R) Fredeirck Sturckow, Patrick Forrester, Daniel Barry, Scott Horowitz

Top Left (L-R): James Voss, Yury Usachev, Susan Helms

Top Right (L-R): Mikhail Tyurin, Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-105), launched August 10, 2001, carried the third crew to the International Space Station and brought the second crew back home.  Its crew consisted of Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Frederick Sturckow, Patrick Forrester and Daniel Barry.  The members of Expedition 3 were Frank Culbertson, Mikhail Tyurin and Vladimir Dezhurov.

Barry and Forrester conducted 2 EVAs lasting a total of 11 hours and 45 minutes. Discovery returned to Earth August 22 with the crew of Expedition 2: Yury Usachev, James Voss and Susan Helms.

During the mission they woke up to Sting's Brand New Day!

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Yury Usachov!

Yury Usachov, born October 9, 1957 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of four space flights, including two on Soyuz spacecraft and two on space shuttles.

Usachov's first trip into space was aboard Soyuz TM-18 in January 1994 as part of the Mir EO-15 crew.  He performed EVAs to assess potential damage done to Mir when Soyuz TM-17 hit the space station twice while leaving.  They found no damage.  He returned to Earth in July 1994.

His second trip to space was aboard the Soyuz TM-23 spacecraft in February 1996 as part of the Mir EO-21 crew.  Shannon Lucid joined him for part of his stay.  He returned to Earth September 1996.

Usachov's third mission was on Atlantis (STS-101) in May 2000 as mission specialist to the International Space Station.  The mission lasted almost 10 days.

His fourth and final trip into space was aboard Discovery (STS-102) in March 2001 to the ISS.  He was the commander of Expedition 2, which lasted until August, when he returned to Earth on Discovery (STS-105).

Over the course of his career, he has performed seven EVA and has spent 553 days in space.

Discovery (STS-102) launched 2001

Crew of STS-102 

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-102), launched March 8, 2001, was a resupply mission to the International Space Station.  It also rotated the Expedition 1 and Expedition 2 crews to ISS.  The crew that launched and then returned March 21 consisted of Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot James Kelly, mission specialist Andy Thomas and mission specialist Paul Richards.

They carried the members of Expedition 2 to the station, who were Yury Usachov, James Voss and Susan Helms.  Expedition 1, which consisted of William Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko, and Sergei Krikalev.

Soyuz TM-23 launched 1996

Soyuz TM-23 crew: Yuri Onufrienko, Yury Usachov

Soyuz TM-23, launched February 21, 1996, was the 25th manned mission to the space station Mir.  Its crew consisted of Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Yury Usachov.  It docked with Mir on February 23, and joined expedition EO-21 which included Shannon Lucid.

They performed an EVA on March 15, the second on May 20, a third May 24, the fourth on May 30, the fifth on June 6 and the final one on June 13. 

Soyuz TM-23 undocked from Mir on September 2 and returned to Earth with Claudie Andre-Deshays on board.

Soyuz TM-18 launched 1994

Soyuz TM-18 crew

 Mission patch

Soyuz TM-18, launched January 8, 1994, was the 18th mission to the Mir spacecraft.  Her crew consisted of Commander Viktor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Yury Usachov and Research Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov. 

Afanasyev and Usachev spent 179 days on Mir and returned to Earth July 9, 1994.  Dr. Polyakov stayed for more than 420 days and returned in March 1995 on Soyuz TM-20.