But I'm looking forward to the future."įincke and his wife, Renita, have three children. "It has such a great historic amazing record. "It's a little bit sad, because this era's coming to an end, just when it seems the space shuttle is in its prime, it can do anything," Fincke said. "It is definitely ironic," Fincke said of the fact that his first trip on a space shuttle turns out to be Endeavour's last. His two previous spaceflights were made on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. While Fincke is a veteran of two long-duration missions to the International Space Station - one in 2004 and one in 2008-2009 - he has never ridden aboard a space shuttle. In May 2002, Fincke served as commander of the second NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO 2) mission, living and working in the Aquarius underwater laboratory near Key Largo, Fla., for seven days. Air Force, and was chosen as an astronaut candidate in April 1996. Johnson and his wife, Cari, have three children: Matthew, Joseph and Rachel.įincke is from Emsworth, Pa. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1998. He graduated from high school in Fairborn, Ohio. Johnson was born in the United Kingdom but raised in various parts of the United States as an Army brat. I'm just tickled pink that I'll be on Endeavour's last flight." "Endeavour's the newest, cleanest vehicle, my favorite of the fleet, though I love them all. "My first date was with Endeavour, and my last date is going to be with Endeavour, as far as space shuttles are concerned," Johnson told. Previously, he served on the March 2008 STS-132 mission of Endeavour. STS-134 will be Johnson's second turn as a space shuttle pilot. Mark Kelly has two children from a previous marriage. Both were selected as astronaut candidates for NASA in April 1996. His brother, Scott Kelly, also is a NASA astronaut, and returned in March from a six-month stint aboard the International Space Station. The couple married in 2007 at an organic produce farm in Amado, Ariz. Kelly and Giffords met in 2003 at a young leaders' conference in China and became friends before kindling their romance. Giffords has reportedly recovered well enough to attend her husband's launch in person on Friday from the seaside spaceport in Florida. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who is recovering from being shot outside a Tucson grocery store in January while meeting with constituents. "And, I think Americans should be proud that we've been able to build such a thing and operate it successfully for such a long period of time." "This is the most capable spacecraft that's ever been built and probably will be built for a long period of time," Kelly said in a NASA interview. He said he was proud to serve on the second-to-last space shuttle mission planned before NASA retires its three-orbiter fleet. Kelly, a veteran of three previous space shuttle missions, will serve as commander on Endeavour's STS-134 mission. Johnson, and mission specialists Michael Fincke, Andrew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff, and Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori. The STS-134 crew includes Kelly, pilot Greg H. The shuttle will deliver spare parts and a $2 billion astrophysics experiment called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the orbiting laboratory. EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center here. A team of six veteran astronauts, led by commander Mark Kelly, are gearing up to ride the space shuttle Endeavour on its last trip to orbit this week.Įndeavour is slated to launch on a two-week sojourn to the International Space Station on Friday at 3:47 p.m.
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