They may be
light on space experience, but the seven astronauts set to launch aboard NASA's
shuttle Discovery on Saturday are raring to rocket into orbit.
Commanded
by veteran astronaut Mark Kelly - one of just two seasoned spaceflyers on the shuttle's
crew - Discovery is poised
to launch Saturday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral,
Fla., to deliver Japan's $1 billion Kibo laboratory to the International Space
Station.
"My crew's
ready," Kelly said this week after arriving at the Florida spaceport with his
crewmates. "We've been training for a year and we're really looking forward to
launch on Saturday."
Discovery's
six-man, one-woman crew is slated to spend two weeks in space delivering the
tour bus-sized Kibo laboratory, performing maintenance and swapping out one
member of the station's three-man crew. The astronauts are even packing some
spare parts for the space station's balky
space toilet, with liftoff set for 5:02 p.m. EDT (2102 GMT) on Saturday.
Here's a
brief look at each of the astronauts set to launch aboard Discovery's STS-124
mission:
The
commander
Hailing from West
Orange, N.J, Kelly is a commander in the U.S. Navy and veteran of two shuttle flights,
though Discovery's
STS-124 mission will mark his first as commander. He flew combat missions
in Operation Desert Storm and served as a test pilot before joining NASA's
astronaut corps in 1996.
Kelly, 44,
has over 375 carrier landings under his belt and spent 25 days in space during
his two shuttle missions as pilot - the last of was NASA's second return to
flight test mission, STS-121, that followed the Columbia tragedy. As commander,
he's worked to ensure his crew is rested and ready for their challenging
mission.
"There's a
lot of other stuff that I have to pay attention to now that I didn't when I was
the pilot," said Kelly, whose identical twin brother Scott Kelly is also a Navy
commander and veteran astronaut. "But it's fun. I like it."
Kelly has
two daughters - ages 13 and 10 - and is married to Arizona congresswoman
Gabrielle Giffords. Saturday's planned launch will be a particularly auspicious
day in his family, he added.
"It's a
good day to launch; it's my dad's birthday," said Kelly, whose father Richard
will turn 68. "So he'll be happy about that."
Kelly is
hoping to finally snap a good photo of Mt. Everest from space during his free
time after being thwarted on previous flights.
"Maybe
third time's a charm on this one," he said.
The
pilot
U.S. Navy commander Ken Ham, 43, is making his first trip to space as
Discovery's pilot after 10 years serving in NASA's astronaut ranks.
"It's been
a long time," said Ham, whose call sign is "Hock", but added that the wait has
been worth it. "Yes, without a doubt."
With more
than 300 carrier landings under his belt, Ham flew combat missions over North
Iraq and Bosnia and served as a Navy test pilot to help develop the F/18 Super
Hornet attack aircraft before joining NASA's astronaut corps in 1998.
During
Discovery's STS-124 mission, Ham will wield the shuttle's robotic arm and serve
as a choreographer for the mission's three planned spacewalks to deliver Kibo. His
job is to make sure the spacewalkers are on track, and that they don't go
outside and find themselves with the wrong tools for the job.
"I'm going
to try my best to not let that happen." Ham said. Ham, a native of Plainfield,
N.J., is married to wife Michelle and has two teenage sons.
The
robotic arm triple play
Discovery's
Mission Specialist 1 is Karen Nyberg, a first-time spaceflyer from Vining,
Minn., who will become the 50th woman ever to reach space when the shuttle
launches into orbit.
"What I'm
really looking forward to is the time when we're not counting anymore," said
Nyberg, whose flight occurs near the 45th anniversary the launch of Russian
cosmonaut Valentina
Tereshkova, the first woman in space.
A
mechanical engineer with a penchant for art and crafting, Nyberg joined NASA's
spaceflying ranks in 2000 and will be the first astronaut to wield three
different robotic arms - the shuttle's, space station's and Kibo's new Japanese
arm - in a single spaceflight. She will miss her two beloved dogs during the
flight, but is looking forward to her first views from space.
"It's hard
for me to imagine how just how beautiful it probably is," said Nyberg, who has
pursued an astronaut career since her childhood and was accepted on the very
first try. "I was very lucky."
Spacewalking
debut
Mission
Specialist 2 for Discovery's flight is U.S. Air Force Col. Ron Garan, who is
making his first spaceflight since joining NASA's astronaut corps in 2000.
"I'm doing
my fantasy job right now, my dream job," said Garan, 46, in a NASA interview. "This
is all I ever wanted to do and I'm really fortunate to do that."
A native of
Yonkers, N.Y., Garan will make his orbital debut as one of Discovery's two
STS-124 spacewalkers to help install the Kibo laboratory for Japan.
"We're
looking forward to going outside and hooking it up," Garan said from Discovery's
launch site this week, adding that the new orbital lab is the culmination of
more than 20 years of work in Japan.
Garan is
married to wife Carmel and has three sons; two twins, 17, and a 13-year-old.
Orbital
construction chief
Veteran
spacewalker Mike Fossum, Discovery's Mission Specialist 3, is the shuttle crew's
only other member to fly in space before besides Kelly. He joined the astronaut
corps in 1998 and last flew in 2006 during the STS-121 mission, with Kelly as
pilot. He will lead the three planned STS-124 spacewalks.
A dedicated
Boy Scouts scout master and Eagle Scout, Fossum, 50, is married to wife Melanie
with a grown daughter, 23, and three sons, ages 21, 17 and 11. As one of the
two senior astronauts, he's been sharing some of the intricacies of spaceflight
that spaceflyers may not learn in regular training.
An example:
choose your menu wisely. "I, for instance, will never fly seafood gumbo again,"
Fossum said, adding that it's one of his favorite dishes on Earth. "But up
there, it just didn't seem right."
Fossum
hails from McAllen, Tex., and is looking forward to his role in adding a new
room to the space station.
"To have
the chance to be one of the guys to be bolting her together, that's just a huge
privilege for me," said Fossum, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force reserve. "If a
car can be beautiful, the Kibo module can be beautiful."
The hope of Japan
Japanese astronaut
Akihiko "Aki" Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is
making his first spaceflight as Mission Specialist 4 aboard Discovery. A station
robotic arm operator, he will open JAXA's Kibo laboratory for business after
attaching it to the space station.
"We're
hoping to accomplish a lot of scientific experiments on board," said Hoshide,
39, in a NASA interview. "It's a big milestone for Japan."
[Click
here for a full profile of Hoshide and JAXA's Kibo laboratory.]
Space
station's new tenant
Rounding
out Discovery's crew is Mission Specialist 5 Gregory Chamitoff, whose first
spaceflight will be much longer than the rest of his shuttle crewmate.
Chamitoff,
a NASA astronaut born in Montreal, Canada, is set to begin a six-month mission to
the space station as a flight engineer with the outpost's Expedition 17 crew.
He will replace fellow NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, who has lived aboard the
station since March.
"I feel
very lucky to be part of this crew and part of this mission," said Chamitoff,
45, a planetary geologist and engineer.
Reaching
space has been a lifelong goal for Chamitoff that began when his father took
his family to see the launch of Apollo 11, NASA's first mission to land on the
moon, in July 1969.
"I told him
then that that's what I want to do and kind of never gave up on that,"
Chamitoff said in a NASA interview. "I have to admit that I kind of grew up on 'Star
Trek.'"
Chamitoff
and his wife Chantal have 3-year-old fraternal twins Natasha and Dmitri, though
his son seems to think he will launch into space with dad.
"They know there's
a space station and that I'm going to it, and it's up in the sky," said
Chamitoff, adding that Dmitri has been running around the house wearing a miniature
spacesuit. "He thinks he's going...maybe next time or something."
NASA
will the planned launch of Discovery's STS-124 mission live on NASA TV,
beginning at 12:00 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) on Saturday. Click here for SPACE.com's
shuttle mission updates and NASA TV feed.
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