"We shall individually be held responsible for doing one jot less than we have ability to do...But when we give ourselves wholly to God, and in our work follow His directions, He makes Himself responsible for its accomplishment. He would not have us conjecture as to the success of our honest endeavors. Not once should we even think of failure. We are to cooperate with One who knows no failure." ~Messages to Young People, p. 309

Monday, June 6, 2011

Meeting the Final Shuttle Crew

The shuttle crew: L to R, Mission Specialist Rex Walheim, 
Pilot Doug Hurley, Commander Chris Ferguson, 
and Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus
Who are these people who are flying the final space shuttle flight, STS-135? When will they fly? Why only four crew members? Let's learn some more about the crew and their flight!

Chris Ferguson will be commanding this flight. This will be his third shuttle flight; he was the pilot aboard STS-115/Atlantis in 2006 and the commander of STS-126/Endeavour in 2008. Coming from the Navy, he flew jets before coming to NASA in 1998.

Doug Hurley will be the pilot on STS-135. He is a Marine and has been stationed as a test pilot at Pax River. Summer 2000 found him reporting to NASA as an astronaut. He has previously served as pilot aboard the STS-127/Endeavour flight in 2009. STS-135 will be his second spaceflight.

STS-135 will be Mission Specialist Rex Walheim 's third spaceflight. He was a test pilot at Edwards AFB before becoming an astronaut in 1996. Walheim previously flew on STS-110 and STS-122, both on Atlantis. His final flight, STS-135, will also be on Atlantis. While Walheim has racked up over 2 hours of spacewalking during his spaceflight career, he won't be spacewalking on STS-135. Instead, ISS crew members Ron Garan and Mike Fossum will be conducting the EVA.

STS-135 Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus has flown on STS-112 (2002), STS-126 (2008), and STS-119 (2009). She was hoisted aloft into space and the International Space Station by STS-126, and returned home the following year via STS-119.

STS-135's main mission objective is to haul extra spare parts and supplies to the International Space Station. STS-135's supplies will keep the Station running for at least another year, until more supply vehicles can reach the Station. Right now, the mission is scheduled to launch on July 8, 2011.

 Because STS-135 will be hauling so much payload, a reduced, limited crew will fly the mission. Commander Chris Ferguson pointed out that there will be challenges flying only a four-person crew in his preflight interview. Another reason for the limited crew, he pointed out, was that there is no rescue shuttle for this final mission. If something goes wrong with Atlantis, the four crew members will hitch rides home on the Soyuzes that come every three months or so.

If you click here, you can go to the main NASA/STS-135 page here, and read all the crew members' terribly interesting interviews. Below is a video of Atlantis rolling out to the launch pad.



Well, that's about it for now. I'll keep you updated on this exciting, final space shuttle mission! :D

~Photobug

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