Targeted For June 2009 Liftoff
NASA has assigned the crew for space
shuttle mission STS-128. The flight will carry science and storage
racks to the International Space Station in mid-2009.
Marine Corps Col. Frederick W. "Rick" Sturckow will command
space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-128 mission, targeted for launch
July 30, 2009. Retired Air Force Col. Kevin A. Ford will serve as
the pilot.
Mission specialists are NASA astronauts John D. "Danny" Olivas,
retired Army Col. Patrick G. Forrester, Jose M. Hernandez and
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Christer Fuglesang. The
mission will deliver a new station crew member, Nicole Stott, to
the complex and return Tim Kopra to Earth. Ford, Hernandez and
Stott will be making their first trips to space. Stott and Kopra
were previously assigned in February to station missions.
Atlantis will carry a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with
science and storage racks to the station. The mission will include
three spacewalks to remove and replace a materials processing
experiment outside ESA's Columbus module and return an empty
ammonia tank assembly.
Sturckow flew as the commander of STS-117 in 2007, and was the
pilot of STS-105 in 2001 and STS-88 in 1998. He considers Lakeside,
CA his hometown. Sturckow has a bachelor's degree in mechanical
engineering from California Polytechnic State University. He was
selected as an astronaut in 1994.
Ford considers Montpelier, IN his hometown. He has a bachelor's
in aerospace engineering from the University of Notre Dame,
master's degrees in international relations from Troy State
University in Alabama and aerospace engineering from the University
of Florida, and a doctorate in astronautical engineering from the
Air Force Institute of Technology. He was selected as an astronaut
in 2000.
Olivas flew as a mission specialist and conducted two spacewalks
during STS-117 in 2007. He was raised in El Paso, TX. Olivas has a
bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the University of
Texas-El Paso, a master's in mechanical engineering from the
University of Houston and a doctorate in mechanical engineering and
materials science from Rice University. He was selected as an
astronaut in 1998.
Forrester flew as a mission specialist on STS-117 in 2007 and on
STS-105 in 2001. He has conducted four spacewalks. He was born in
El Paso, Texas. Forrester has a bachelor's in applied sciences and
engineering from the US Military Academy and a master's in
mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of
Virginia. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996.
Hernandez considers Stockton, CA his hometown. He has a
bachelor's in electrical engineering from the University of the
Pacific and a master's in electrical and computer engineering from
the University of California-Santa Barbara. He was selected as an
astronaut in 2004.
Fuglesang flew as a mission specialist and conducted three
spacewalks on STS-116 in 2006. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden.
Fuglesang has a master's in engineering physics from the Royal
Institute of Technology and a doctorate in experimental particle
physics from the University of Stockholm. He was selected to join
the ESA astronaut corps in 1992 and began training at NASA's
Johnson Space Center in Houston in 1996.
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