A pair of veteran
NASA spacewalkers is set to return to the International Space Station (ISS)
this week aboard the shuttle Atlantis to help boost the orbital laboratory's
power supply.
Astronauts Jim
Reilly II and Patrick Forrester are gearing up for a planned
June 8 launch into orbit alongside their five STS-117 crewmates to
deliver two massive starboard trusses and solar arrays to ISS. The two spaceflyers
are the experienced half of a four-astronaut team that will pair off in twos to
install the new station segments over the course of three planned spacewalks.
"We're really
looking forward to it," Reilly told reporters in a preflight briefing, adding
that the Atlantis crew is taking the best methods of NASA's last two shuttle
flights - many tasks of which are being repeated during STS-117 -- to ensure
success. "It's all been done before. You just have to do it, but do it
better."
Reilly, Forrester
and their STS-117 crewmates plan to launch Friday for a planned
11-day construction flight to the ISS. The astronauts are hauling the
17.5-ton Starboard 3/Starboard 4 (S3/S4)
truss segments and new solar wings to the orbital laboratory and hope to
furl away an older solar array in what will mark NASA's first of up to four
shuttle flights this year.
Taking the lead
Hailing from Mesquite, Texas, Reilly is a
veteran of two shuttle flights and three spacewalks since he first joined
NASA's astronaut corps in 1994. He will serve as NASA's chief spacewalker
during the STS-117 mission.
"For me,
personally, it started when I was eight years old, John Glenn was flying on his
first flight and of all places I was sitting in a dentist chair...," Reilly,
53, said of his astronaut path in a NASA interview, adding that his dentist was
a spaceflight fan. "I was just laying there with all this stuff in my
mouth, [and] he asked me if I ever thought I'd like to be an astronaut. I
thought, 'Anything but here.'"
Reilly holds a
Ph.D. in geosciences from the University of Texas-Dallas, and served as an oil
and gas exploration geologist before signing on as a NASA astronaut.
He made his first
spaceflight aboard the shuttle Endeavour in 1998 for NASA's STS-89 mission to Russia's Mir space station
to deliver new cargo and a U.S.
astronaut to the orbital laboratory. In 2001, he helped install
the U.S. Quest airlock at the ISS over the course of three spacewalks
during the 12-day STS-104 shuttle flight aboard Atlantis. Altogether, he has
spent more than 21
days flying in space.
"Seeing this
massive piece of equipment in space and looking at it and saying, we have don
this in just a matter of a couple of years...it was a real 'gee whiz' moment for
me at that point," Reilly said, adding that he believes the science the station
will ultimate yield will have a huge impact for those on Earth. "So in a
much bigger sense, it's really an investment in our future and our kids'
future."
During STS-117,
Reilly will participate in the first and third planned spacewalks for the
11-day mission to install new trusses and solar
arrays. He will also help orchestrate the second spacewalk from inside the
Atlantis orbiter's flight deck.
But from a
personal standpoint, he told reporters that he hopes to snap the ultimate
travel photo to catch the Earth below his feet while performing a spacewalk.
"That's one
of the most remarkable views there is," Reilly said. "To kind of
realize you're a human satellite."
The Army's
astronaut
Like Reilly,
Forrester is making his own return to the space and the ISS during the STS-117,
though his path did not always point towards orbit.
"I grew up in
a military family," Forrester, 50, said in a NASA interview, adding that
his father Redmond – a retired U.S. Army colonel – was a career officer.
"I knew that was what I wanted to do, too."
But after reading
about Gen. Bob Stewart, the U.S. Army's first astronaut, Forrester opted to pursue
spaceflight on his own.
"I started
thinking, wow, you know, you can do this thing that I love, which is being an
Army officer -- think that's a really important role -- and but also an
astronaut," said Forrester, who is also a retired Army colonel. "Once
I latched onto that, I never really let it go."
Forrester holds a
bachelors of science
degree in from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point. While he initially hoped to an
infantry lieutenant, Forrester's astronaut goals carried him back to graduate
school, where he obtained a
masters of science in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University
of Virginia.
After serving as
an assault helicopter officer, he went on to serve as a flight test engineer
and test pilot in subsequent positions and underwent training with the Army
parachutist course, U.S. Army Ranger School and other military schools to
become a Master Army Aviator with more than 4,000 hours of flight time in 50
different aircraft. He and his wife Diana have two children.
Forrester
first joined NASA's ranks as an aerospace engineer in 1993 and was selected to
become a mission specialist astronaut in May 1996. He first launched to space aboard the space shuttle Discovery
in 2001 on NASA's STS-105 mission to ferry a new crew and fresh supplies to the
ISS. During that 12-day
spaceflight, Forrester performed two spacewalks and served alongside fellow
astronaut Rick Sturckow, who is commanding the upcoming STS-117
mission.
"It was just
a pleasure to be assigned to fly with him again," Forrester said of Sturckow
in a preflight briefing. "That really helped me, starting off, to know
exactly what would
be expected in this training flow."
Forrester will
team up with fellow STS-117 spacewalker Steve Swanson during their mission's
second planned spacewalk to install the S3/S4 truss segments and solar arrays.
He will also serve as the mission's primary
robotic arm wrangler and
will wield Atlantis' 50-foot (15-meter) appendage to help conduct heat shield
inspections and pluck the $367.3
million S3/S4 truss out of the orbiter's cargo bay and hand it off to the
station's own arm.
Installing the new
solar arrays will be vital to the space station's ability to support new
international laboratories, Forrester said, adding that the impact of human
spaceflight – and the ISS in particular – will likely be one felt strongest in
the future, when its place as a feat of engineering and cooperation are
clearer. He also hopes that his second spaceflight will allow him to savor the
vivid colors and views of the growing station.
"It's a
beautiful thing," Forrester said if the ISS. "It's funny to say that
of something made of metal."
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