Dan Bursch
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‘We Had a Bet…and I Lost’: 15 Years Since STS-111’s Repairmen Visited the Space Station (Part 1)
Fifteen years ago, next week, the second human to launch from Earth as many as seven times began what would be his final space mission. Costa Rica-born U.S. plasma physicist Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz, it might be supposed, had seen and done everything during his two-decade astronaut career. He had deployed and retrieved satellites, had performed […] More
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Adding Backbone to the Space Station: 15 Years Since STS-110 (Part 2)
Jerry Ross was already a record-setter before ever launching on his final space mission, STS-110, aboard shuttle Atlantis, on 8 April 2002. For more than three years, he had been the United States’ most experienced spacewalker, with a career total of more than 44 hours of Extravehicular Activity (EVA) across seven excursions. He had participated […] More
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Adding Backbone to the Space Station: 15 Years Since STS-110 (Part 1)
Fifteen years ago, on the morning of 8 April 2002, U.S. astronaut Jerry Ross—veteran of seven space missions and seven spacewalks—settled into orbit aboard shuttle Atlantis, having just launched from Earth more times than any other human being. Ross had previously held the record for the greatest number of previous spaceflights at six, jointly shared […] More
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‘Our Own Little Spaceship’: 15 Years Since the Flag-Bearing Mission of STS-108 (Part 2)
At the cusp of nightfall on 5 December 2001, Space Shuttle Endeavour dispelled some of the darkness which had cloaked the world for several months. Less than 12 weeks since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States—and characterized by a heightened sense of security at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida—STS-108 was the […] More
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‘Let Freedom Roar’: 15 Years Since the Flag-Bearing Mission of STS-108 (Part 1)
Fifteen years ago, this week—as America and the world reeled from the 9/11 terrorist atrocities—Space Shuttle Endeavour launched on a poignant, 12-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS). For STS-108 was the first U.S. piloted spaceflight to occur after the tragedy which cost almost 3,000 human lives. In the words of STS-108 Commander Dom […] More
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Doorway to the Future: 15 Years Since STS-104 (Part 2)
Fifteen years ago, this week, the crew of STS-104—Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh, and Mission Specialists Mike Gernhardt, Janet Kavandi, and Jim Reilly—rocketed into the pre-dawn darkness to effect a major change to the fledgling International Space Station (ISS). Over the next 12 days, they worked to install and activate the Quest airlock, which […] More
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‘An Amazing and Wonderful Experience’: 20 Years Since STS-77’s Record-Setting Rendezvous Mission (Part 2)
Twenty years ago this week, six men orbited Earth aboard Shuttle Endeavour on one of the most complex research flights ever conducted in the program’s 30-year history. With such a large number of payloads aboard, it was imperative for the STS-77 crew—Commander John Casper, Pilot Curt Brown, and Mission Specialists Andy Thomas, Dan Bursch, Mario […] More
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‘Wide-Eyed Dreamers’: 20 Years Since STS-77’s Record-Setting Rendezvous Mission (Part 1)
Early on 20 May 1996, NASA astronaut Mario Runco, Jr., grappled SPARTAN-207—a small, free-flying spacecraft, equipped with a very unique experiment—and lifted it from Shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay with the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) mechanical arm. Together with his five crewmates, Runco had launched just 24 hours earlier, kicking off the 10-day STS-77 mission. […] More
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‘Fifteen Midnights’: Celebrating the New Year in Space (Part 1)
With a naval officer in command of the International Space Station, it might have seemed obvious that New Year’s Day 2001 would carry a corresponding nautical tradition. Astronaut Bill Shepherd and his Russian crewmates, Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko, rang in the start of what would turn out to be one of the United States’ […] More
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in NASA, AmericaSpace, Spaceflight, ISS, International Space Station, Ben Evans, astronaut, Exploration
Ding-Dong Merrily On-Orbit: Celebrating Yuletide in Space (Part 2)
As we celebrate the festive period over the coming days, spare a thought for the four men and two women from three discrete nations who are presently in orbit, 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, aboard the International Space Station. Expedition 42 Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and his Russian crewmates Aleksandr Samokutyayev, Yelena Serova, and Anton Shkaplerov, fellow U.S. […] More
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in AmericaSpace, Space, Ben Evans
‘Dramatic, Down-the-Throat View’: 20 Years Since STS-68 (Part 2)
Twenty years ago, on 30 September 1994, the crew of Shuttle Endeavour rocketed into orbit—six weeks later than originally planned—on an 11-day mission to support the second Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-2). As described in yesterday’s AmericaSpace history article, the mission, STS-68, featured the Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-C) and the X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR) and […] More
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‘Engines in Post-Shutdown Standby’: 20 Years Since STS-68 (Part 1)
One day in the summer of 1993, astronaut Tom Jones was made an offer that he could not refuse. More than 18 months earlier, Jones had been assigned as a mission specialist on STS-59, the first shuttle-based Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-1) flight, tasked with imaging virtually the entire Home Planet with powerful synthetic aperture radar. […] More
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