The front
seats aboard the space shuttle Discovery will be filled by two veterans of
orbital flight when the spacecraft launches
July 1.
In command of
the upcoming space shot is three-time shuttle flyer and U.S. Air Force colonel Steven
Lindsey, who will fly alongside pilot Mark Kelly during the planned 12-day
mission.
Between
themselves, Kelly - a U.S. Navy commander and aviator - and Lindsey have
amassed more than 9,000 flight hours on 100 different aircraft throughout their
careers and are both looking forward to Discovery's STS-121 mission.
"We're kind
of the stepping stone going from return to flight back into space station
assembly," Lindsey said. "Each mission has to accomplish their objectives
before the next mission can launch."
NASA's
STS-121 mission will mark the agency's second shuttle test flight since the 2003 Columbia tragedy. Lindsey
and his fellow crewmates will test a series of shuttle
launch system modifications and repair techniques during their flight to
the International Space Station (ISS).
Returning
commander
Lindsey,
45, is a native of Temple City, California and joined NASA's astronaut corps in
1996 after one year of training and 14 years with the U.S. Air Force.
"I didn't
always necessarily want to fly in space my whole life," Lindsey said in a NASA
interview.
While the
shuttle commander-to-be was eager to reach space at age 8 after watching
astronaut Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon in 1969, but his attention quickly
shifted towards aviation.
"When I got
older and into high school, I kind of set that aside," Lindsey said this month.
"My dad was an engineer, and I wanted to fly airplanes."
Lindsey
graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1982, and later became a test
pilot to shake down new weapons systems for F-16 and F-4 aircraft.
Discovery's
STS-121 mission is very similar to his weapons test flights, because of
the sheer amount of computer modeling and simulations conducted to make sure
the orbiter and its external tank are it to fly, Lindsey said during a prelaunch press conference.
"I'm not
here to be a personality or anything," Lindsey said. "I am here because it's an
opportunity to combine what I love, flying and using my education."
After
joining NASA, Lindsey served as pilot on two shuttle missions - STS-87 in 1997
and STS-95 in 1998 - and later commanded the STS-104
mission, which delivered NASA's Quest
airlock to the ISS in 2001.
While
Lindsey is acutely aware of the risks of human spaceflight, the impact is more
felt by his wife Diane - whom he met while playing saxophone in Temple City
High School - and their three children.
"It's a little
bit harder for my family because they're not going on the missions," Lindsey
has said, adding that he has assured them that if he believed NASA was taking
unacceptable risks, he would not fly. "So at least they're reassured that I
think it's safe as we can before we go."
Veteran
pilot
Shuttle
pilot Mark Kelly has one orbiter mission under his belt during his STS-108
flight aboard Endeavour in 2001. Selected to join NASA's astronaut ranks in
1996, Kelly has almost 20 years of experience as naval aviator.
"I feel
very privileged...it has been everything I've expected, and that's not even
including the flying-in-space part of the job," Kelly told reporters in a
preflight interview.
Hailing
from West Orange, New Jersey, Kelly, 42, is a father of two children with whom
he has taken great care to explain the risk of human spaceflight.
"We've
talked about the problems with Columbia, that those problems have been fixed,
and that we don't expect the same issues with Discovery," Kelly said. "I try to
do my best to make sure that it's a good experience for them."
Kelly flew
as naval aviator during two deployments to the Persian Gulf and flew 39 combat
missions during Operation Desert Storm. He joined NASA after serving as a test
pilot instructor for the U.S. Navy.
Kelly is
not only the shuttle pilot for STS-121, but also serves as the inside man for
mission specialists Piers
Sellers and Michael Fossum, and will help
coordinate their actions during up to three
spacewalks.
"It's a
different focus in space for me," said Kelly, who handled robotic arm
operations during his previous flight. "This flight has a lot more its plate
than STS-108 did, and I think we're going ot
be a lot busier."
But Kelly
said that despite the hectic schedule and risk, the STS-121 flight and
subsequent shuttle missions would reap huge rewards for the country overall,
though his heart would be set on a Mars mission if possible.
"I think it
would be interesting to look back at Earth as a dot instead of looking back
from the Moon," Kelly said. "And it would be interesting to go to a real planet
instead of, you know, a satellite planet."
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