Mission Endeavour: Spaceflight Rookies Prepare for First Launch

Two astronauts are looking forward to their first taste of space when NASA?s shuttle Endeavour rockets towards the International Space Station (ISS) this week.

Mission specialists Tracy Caldwell and Alvin Drew, Jr. are each poised to make their first career spaceflights with NASA?s STS-118 mission set to launch Aug. 8.

?It?s almost unreal,? Caldwell told reporters in an interview. ?I haven?t allowed myself to get too giddy imagining what floating in space is going to be like and trying to do all the things that I'm trained to do.?

Caldwell, Drew and five crewmates will launch from NASA?s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver cargo, spare parts and a new piece of the space station?s starboard-side truss. Endeavour?s crew also includes teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who joined NASA as the backup for Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe in 1985. McAuliffe and six astronauts were aboard the space shuttle Challenger when it broke apart just after launch in January 1986.

Teacher in Space?s legacy

As Mission Specialist 1 during the STS-118 mission, Caldwell will choreograph up to four spacewalks from inside Endeavour, as well as wield the orbiter's robotic arm. She joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1998, but her interest in spaceflight began at age 16 in 1986 while the agency was preparing to launch the first teacher into space.

"It was all because of Christa McAuliffe, and she was a teacher that was going up into space," said Caldwell, now 37 and a private pilot, in a NASA interview. "So I started thinking, 'Wow, if a teacher can become and astronaut, I wonder if I could too.'"

Growing up in Arcadia, California, Caldwell routinely helped her electrician father rewire houses and repair cars before working to obtain a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California at Davis. That training, as well as her ongoing interest in athletics, is welcome practice for her role as the intravehicular spacewalk choreographer, she said.

"You've got to think ahead, and what tools you need, and how you approach a problem," Caldwell said. "Dad prepared me really well for that."

Since joining NASA, Caldwell helped test and integrate Russian-built hardware and software bound for the ISS. She served as the prime crew support astronaut for the space station's Expedition 5 mission has also served as spacecraft communicator for later ISS flights.

Off all the advice she's received from veteran spaceflyers, taking time to look out the window while in Earth orbit is one Caldwell takes to heart.

"I'm not just going up there," she told reporters. "My family, my friends, my professors. Everybody that's played a role and I'm going to look out that window for them."

CAPCOM to crewmate

A late addition to the STS-118 mission, Drew is Mission Specialist 5 on Endeavour?s crew and will serve as sort of a utility astronaut.

?I?m supporting cast for this mission,? he said in a NASA interview, adding that he will help out on tasks and packing things in the right place. ?It?s not a very glamorous role, but it?s something that I?m very happy to be doing.?

Drew, 44, joined Endeavour?s crew in late April as a replacement for ISS Expedition 15 flight engineer Clayton Anderson, who launched earlier during June?s STS-117 mission to relieve fellow NASA astronaut Sunita Williams. At the time, he was training to serve as a shuttle spacecraft communicator, or CAPCOM, to speak to orbiter crews for Mission Control.

?My initial reaction was just plain shock,? Drew told reporters in a preflight briefing. ?I?ve never heard of anybody being selected for a mission about three and a half months out in front of a launch. After that, it was just time to get busy.?

A colonel in the U.S. Air Force and native of Washington, D.C., Drew joined NASA?s astronaut corps in July 2000. After gaining experience as a combat helicopter pilot, he has logged 3,000 of flying time in over 30 different aircraft and has worked in the space station branch of the Astronaut Office.

?I?ve just been all over,? Drew said. ?My fingerprints are all over parts of space station at this point.?

Drew?s interest in space began at age six, when he watched NASA launch the Apollo 7 mission at school with his classmates in 1968. He later obtained degrees in physics, aeronautical engineering, aerospace science and political science during his Air Force career. But despite the long path, Drew said he isn?t sure what part of his first flight will make the biggest impression.

?Knowing how my brain works, I won?t think about that until after I?ve landed and hopefully I?ve got a set of good memories to go reflect back on,? Drew said.

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