Monday, August 6, 2007
news@utsi.edu
KNOXVILLE -- A University of Tennessee Space
Institute alumnus will be in command of Space Shuttle Endeavour when
it launches Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center.
Astronaut and Navy Cmdr. Scott Kelly will lead the crew of shuttle
mission STS-118 on their 11-day mission, expected to make a critical
addition to the International Space Station. The crew will be adding
an element to the station known as the P5 truss, as well as
transferring a significant amount of cargo to the station.
Kelly, who also flew on a shuttle mission in 1999, earned a master's
degree in aviation sciences from the UT Space Institute in 1996.
"We are very proud to count Cmdr. Kelly as one of more than 10 UTSI
graduates who have become astronauts and flown on the Space
Shuttle," said UTSI Chief Operating Officer Don Daniel. "All of us
at the UT Space Institute look forward to a good launch next week,
an exciting mission to the space station and a safe return to earth
for Commander Kelly and the entire crew."
In addition to servicing the space station, this mission could be
the longest ever shuttle trip to the space station thanks to new
technology.
The new station-to-shuttle power transfer system will allow the
shuttle to stay in space an additional three days and support
another trip outside of the shuttle, known as an extra-vehicular
activity, or EVA, by the astronauts.
The seeds of Kelly's interest in spaceflight were planted at a young
age, according to a NASA interview.
"Certainly the Apollo program, being a kid during the moon landings
and having a memory of that, was always in my mind," said Kelly in
the interview. "I thought it would just be a very challenging and
exciting job. And I was right."
As the mission commander, Kelly will draw on his experience as a
Navy test pilot as he performs a number of complex maneuvers as the
shuttle approaches the station to dock.
"As we get within several thousand feet of the station, I’ll
actually start flying it manually by looking at some camera views on
some monitors, but also looking out the window," said Kelly.
In addition to his duties in flying the shuttle once in space, Kelly
is responsible for the overall command of the mission, as well as
ensuring the safety of astronauts as they don spacesuits to leave
the spacecraft and install equipment on the outside of the space
station.
According to Kelly, the greatest challenge of
spaceflight is ensuring that the crew is properly trained and ready
to fly, he said recently.
"There are so many different complicated tasks we have to do," said
Kelly. "So making sure that everyone, including myself, is at the
right level of training is certainly, I think, the most challenging
aspect of it."
Another unique aspect of the mission is found not in the tasks to be
accomplished but in one of Kelly's crew members. Mission specialist
Barbara Morgan will be the second person to participate in NASA's
program to send educators into space. The first was astronaut
Christa McAuliffe, who lost her life in the Challenger accident in
1986.
In spite of the mission's importance, however, Kelly points toward
the experience of launch as his favorite part of spaceflight.
"When you're watching the shuttle launch as a spectator, it looks
like [the shuttle is] lifting off the pad slowly," said Kelly.
"But when you're inside, it seems like you're really getting up and going in a hurry. You know you're going somewhere; you're not exactly sure where; but you know you're not coming back to Florida. It's quite a wild ride."
STS-118 CREW--The crew members of STS-118 pose for their official portrait. Pictured from the left are mission specialists Richard A. (Rick) Mastracchio, Barbara R. Morgan, Pilot Charles O. Hobaugh, Commander Scott J. Kelly (UTSI graduate) and mission specialists Tracy E. Caldwell, Canadian Space Agency's Dafydd R. (Dave) Williams, and Alvin Drew Jr.
--NASA Photo Provided sp;sp;
STS-118 Commander Scott J. Kelly (UTSI graduate)
