![]() 300 was either Jim Newman or Dan Bursch, both seated on STS-51on the aft flight deck like Cassidy (with fellow first time flier Carl Walz onthe middeck) and the 400th was Paul Richards, who in 2001 was seated onSTS-102 behind another first timer, James "Vegas" Kelly.įor STS-127pilot Hurley, the importance of these records wasn't so much in the title as itwas in what it represents. 200, narrowlybeating now-Senator (then Representative) Bill Nelson, Franklin Chang-Diaz andBob Cenker no. ![]() Using Cassidy'sposition aboard Endeavour as the model for determining some of the earlierrecords, cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov became the 100th into space onboard SoyuzT-3 in 1980 NASA Administrator nominee Charlie Bolden was no. "If it just so happens to be 500, that's great and it is excitingregardless."Ĭassidy, who isthe second Navy SEAL-turned-astronaut, will perform three of the STS-127mission's five planned spacewalks to complete the installation of the JapaneseKibo laboratory, move spare equipment, replace some of the International SpaceStation's solar power-fed batteries and finish configuring equipment deliveredby prior crews. "I'mhonored to have a position, whether it is 499, 500 or 501," explainedCassidy. "We decidedbetween the crew that it would be Chris," Hurley told ."Officially, it is Chris, which I think is awesome." Rather than leave the title open to debate, the sevenastronauts met and voted on who would be Mr. Given the flightprofile of the shuttle, which rolls twice on its way to orbit, others on theSTS-127 crew believed the 500th would be Cassidy, who is seated behind Hurleyon the flight deck. Like Kopra and Marshburn, Love rode to space onboard the middeck. "I think myseat might be a few feet ahead of his but then you roll upside down, whichmight put me even more in the lead, but it is kind of hard to say," sharedMarshburn.Ī similarrationale was put forth by members of the 2008 STS-122 crew when determiningthat astronaut Stan Love would be the 300th American tofly in space. Chosen by NASA to beastronauts together in 2004, Marshburn joked with Cassidy as to who was goingto beat who into space. Marshburn had given some thought to that questionas part of a light hearted rivalry with Cassidy. Their positionat launch however, is less important for the record as where they will be whenthey cross the 62 mile mark. Of the four STS-127 rookies, Hurley and Cassidy arestrapped in above, with Marshburn and Kopra below. Like on allspace shuttle missions with seven astronauts, Endeavour'screw is divided for launch with four on the upper flight deck and threeseated on the middeck. Four first flew on short sub-orbitalhops, which is why the 500th person in space is not also the 500th in orbit. All buteight launched on American or Russian government owned spacecraft, although intotal they have come from 36 nations. ![]() In the 48 yearsthat have followed up until STS-127, 498 men and women (447 men and 51 women)have crossed the 62 mile mark, earning their space explorer wings. ![]() Other lines separating the skyfrom space have existed, ranging from 50 to over 70 miles high, but the FAIdefinition, based on where aeronautics becomes astronautics, has been used asthe ruler by which all past flights have been measured. The mission has been delayed since mid-June due to ahydrogen gas leak that has since been resolved.Įven before YuriGagarin became the first person to enter space in 1961, the governing body forworld flight records, the F?d?ration A?ronautique Internationale (FAI), definedthe demarcation altitude at 62 miles (100 km). ![]() EDT (2339 GMT) tomorrow from NASA's KennedySpace Center in Florida. Liftoff forEndeavour is set for 7:39 p.m. "There'sprobably a protocol for stuff like ," explained Endeavour's commanderMark Polansky, "and if that's it, well, there you go." ![]()
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