Atlantis mission gives rookies a chance to fly

By Marcia Dunn

updated 1:20 a.m. ET Dec. 6, 2007

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Atlantis' international seven-man crew is short on space experience, but that is on purpose. NASA wants to give as many rookie astronauts a shot at space before the shuttles are retired in less than three years.

Mission commander Stephen Frick said NASA will need experienced astronauts for the follow-on spaceships, and the only way to ensure that is to give some of the scarce shuttle seats to the younger members of the corps. Three are rookies.

"We have a total of four spaceflights among seven people," he noted. On Frick's last mission, one astronaut was making his seventh spaceflight, "almost double what my entire crew has."

"We've tried to make that up a little bit by really talking closely with folks who have had three, four, five, six, seven flights," Frick told The Associated Press before Thursday's scheduled liftoff.

The fact that Europe's Columbus orbital laboratory is being brought up to the station has given a strong international flavor to the mission — and there's an international look to the crew as well.

Atlantis is providing a ride for French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who is due to spend two months aboard the orbital outpost to help Columbus get off to a good scientific start. Eyharts replaces NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, who will fill his seat for Atlantis' return to Earth.

Germany's Hans Schlegel is the other European Space Agency representative on the seven-man crew. Rounding out the crew are two Gulf War pilots, a veteran of the Air Force Space Command, an astronomer and a former NFL draft pick.

Here's the full lineup for Atlantis' mission:

Stephen Frick, commander
Frick has an inside source for all things related to the space station: his wife.

NASA Stephen Frick

He is married to mechanical engineer Jennifer Rhatigan, who helped design the space station's power and thermal systems and has worked longer at NASA than he has. They met at Johnson Space Center in Houston after he became an astronaut in 1996.

"It's great. She's very knowledgeable and, actually, if I have questions about that stuff, I usually go to her first," he said.

Frick, 43, a Navy commander from Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, is making his second trip to the international space station. His first was in 2002.

He flew 26 combat missions in Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

He and his wife have no children.

Alan Poindexter, pilot
Poindexter was studying at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the 1980s when a former shuttle commander, Richard Truly, came to talk to the students. From that point on, Poindexter was hooked and made spaceflight his "backburner goal."

NASA Alan Poindexter

Coincidentally, Poindexter was in the same Navy squadron as another future shuttle pilot, Kent Rominger, and they served together during Desert Storm in 1991.

Poindexter has been an astronaut for almost 10 years, and is only now making his first spaceflight. He said he's never bored.

"Really, honestly, this is one of the few jobs I've ever had where it's an absolute joy to wake up in the morning and come to work," he said.

Poindexter, 46, a Navy commander and former test pilot, grew up in Coronado, California, but considers Rockville, Maryland, his hometown. He and his wife, Lisa, have two sons, ages 18 and 22.

Leopold Eyharts, space station crew member
A general in the French Air Force, Eyharts will move into the space station for more than two months.

NASA Leopold Eyharts

This will be his second station stint. In 1998, he spent three weeks aboard Russia's Mir. That mission was delayed six months after a cargo ship collided with Mir in 1997.

Eyharts, 50, takes comfort in the fact there is a reliable rescue ship at the space station and he can always flee in an emergency. He talks often about spaceflight with his 9-year-old son and, along with his wife, tries to convince the boy that he'll be safe.

"It's hard for him to understand all the details," he said. "I'm of course expecting that he will be at least a little bit concerned."

Eyharts, who is from the French coastal town of Biarritz near Spain, is a former test and fighter pilot. He became an astronaut in 1990.

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