Mission Endeavour: Shuttle Commander, Pilot Aim for Orbit

NASA?s shuttle Endeavour will have a pair of seasoned astronauts at the helm when it rockets towards the International Space Station (ISS) later this week.

Veteran spaceflyer Scott Kelly is commanding a seven-astronaut crew for Endeavour?s STS-118 construction mission to the ISS. Returning to space alongside him will be experienced shuttle pilot Charles Hobaugh.

?You know, just flying is such a privilege and a great experience,? Kelly said in a preflight interview. ?The big thing I want to do is just fly a flight.?

Kelly, Hobaugh and their five crewmates are slated to launch Aug. 8 and spend up to 14 days in space to haul fresh cargo, spare parts and install a new piece of the orbital laboratory to its starboard-most side. The crew also includes teacher-turned-spaceflyer Barbara Morgan, who originally served as backup to New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe in 1985 during NASA?s Teacher in Space program. McAuliffe as among the crew of the space shuttle Challenger when it broke apart just after launch in January 1986,

First command

While Kelly, 43, has flown in space before, Endeavour?s STS-118 mission will mark his first to the ISS and as commander.

?It's clearly different,? said Kelly, a commander in the U.S. Navy, who last flew as pilot of NASA?s shuttle Discovery during 1999?s STS-103 flight to the Hubble Space Telescope. ?As a pilot you're responsible for your own job, and as a commander you're responsible for your own job and for everything else that's going on.?

A native of Orange, New Jersey, Kelly first joined NASA?s astronaut ranks in 1996. He served as a backup crewmember for the space station?s Expedition 5 crew in 2002 and led NASA operations in Star City, Russia before heading up the agency?s space station branch of the Astronaut Office. But life as an astronaut was not originally the ultimate goal for Kelly, who is married to wife Leslie and has two children.

?It?s quite surprising to be here,? said Kelly, who has logged more than 3,700 hours in 30 aircraft and flew combat air patrol over Kuwait during Desert Storm, in a NASA interview. ?It was more just the kind of the concept of flying in space and taking flying to the next, most challenging level that inspired me.?

After 11 years at NASA and almost eight days in space, Kelly has shaped a new view of the importance of human spaceflight, both now and for the future.

?I think if we?re going to continue to as a species eventually, far in the future, we?re going to have to find another place to live,? he said. ?And this is just a stepping stone towards that goal.?

Kelly is not the only member of his family to fly in space. His identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, is a veteran shuttle pilot with two spaceflights to the ISS under his belt and is set to command NASA?s STS-124 flight to deliver part of Japan?s Kibo laboratory to the station next year.

?I certainly talk to my brother a lot, certainly not only about work,? Scott Kelly said of his twin. ?He is a good source of information for me if I have any questions that only somebody who?s kind of been there and done that can answer.?

A pilot?s pie-in-the-sky

Like Kelly, Hobaugh, 45, never seriously believed he?d end up a professional astronaut, though he does recall reading about flying in the T-38 jets NASA uses to train astronauts as a student in grade school.

?Being an astronaut?s kind of a pie-in-the-sky thought,? said Hobaugh, U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel with the call sign ?Scorch,? in a NASA interview. ?But it?s an incredible job?it?s my job to go fly in space.?

The Bar Harbor, Maine native is a veteran USMC pilot, logging more than 3,000 hours in over 40 different aircraft, including vertical takeoff and landing Harrier jets. He flew combat missions in the Persian Gulf during operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm and later served as a naval test pilot instructor before joining NASA?s astronaut corps in 1996. He spent nearly 13 days in space as pilot of NASA?s STS-104 mission in 2001 aboard Atlantis to help install NASA?s Quest airlock at the ISS and change out the station?s crew.

The risks of human spaceflight, and shuttle flight in particular, are crystal clear to Hobaugh, who is married to wife Corinna Lynn and has four children. On Feb. 1, 2003, he was serving as spacecraft communicator, or CAPCOM, in Mission Control when the space shuttle Columbia and its seven-astronaut crew were lost during reentry. But after NASA?s work to return its shuttle fleet to flight in 2005, he is confident that the current risks are worth the payoff.

?[Y]ou've got to understand in taking this job is that it is a risky business. You're not doing it with any reasonable assurance of coming back every time,? he told reporters in a preflight interview, adding that mission success will always be the top goal. ?There are things that will happen and things that we need to get past, so that's kind of where I'm at there.?

One of the key things to remember in space, Hobaugh added, is to set time aside to appreciate spaceflight during a mission.

?You?re really cheating yourself if you don?t sneak a peek once in a while,? he said. ?It really puts a good perspective on what the flight?s all about.?

Kelly, too, said he hopes to take some time to savor his first flight as shuttle commander.

?It's been eight years, or almost eight years, since I flew last so I'm really looking forward to this flight,? Kelly said. ?Hopefully the fact that I flew once before, I'll be able to maybe enjoy a little bit more, or appreciate a bit more.?

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