Crew gears up for space construction marathon

By Tariq Malik

updated 6:30 p.m. ET July 12, 2009

Seven astronauts are gearing up for what they expect to be a grueling orbital construction mission to the International Space Station this week aboard the shuttle Endeavour.

Veteran shuttle commander Mark Polansky and six crewmates will take on an ambitious mission to complete the space station's massive Japanese Kibo laboratory.

Endeavour is poised to fly a marathon 16-day flight packed with five spacewalks and complicated robotic arm work to install a porchlike external experiment platform, spare space station parts and perform maintenance work.

"It's complex, it's challenging, it's long," Polansky said of the mission. "It's going to be a really complicated choreography."

As planned, the mission will tie the record for longest shuttle flight to the station. It will also mark the first time 13 people have lived aboard the outpost at the same time since the station doubled its population to full six-person crew in May.

Here is a look at Endeavour's six-man, one-woman crew for the STS-127 mission to the space station:

Veteran in command
Leading Endeavour's crew is Polansky, 53, a two-time shuttle flier making his third trip to the space station. This mission is Polansky's first foray into the online micro-blogging Web site Twitter, where he has been detailing the mission under the handle @Astro_127.

"I really want people in every walk of life to understand that NASA exists," said Polansky, who has tens of thousands of followers and is the second NASA astronaut to use the social networking tool on a mission.

A veteran U.S. Air Force test pilot from Edison, N.J., Polansky joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1996 and is making his second trip as commander. He is married to wife Lisa and has a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son.

During Endeavour's flight, Polansky will keep close tabs on his crew to make sure everyone rests between spacewalks and challenging robotic operations.

"You also get a little chronic fatigue. It's easy to go ahead and not realize how tired you are," Polansky said. "I'll be the mother hen and watch over things like that."

Pilot's view on risk
Endeavour's pilot is U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Doug Hurley, 42, who will begin the first spaceflight of his astronaut career when the shuttle blasts off.

A test pilot from Apalachin, N.Y., Hurley joined NASA's astronaut ranks in 2000 and has a unique view on the risks of human spaceflight. He was the last person to see the seven astronauts of the shuttle Columbia's STS-107 mission before they launched into space on their ill-fated 2003 flight that ended in tragedy during re-entry.

INTERACTIVE NASA's 10 greatest science missions Here are the 10 greatests science missions in NASA's history.

"Being the last person to see them in person, it took a while for me to work through that and what I was doing... it's a tough deal to lose seven friends in an instant," Hurley told Space.com. "Spaceflight's not routine, there's significant risk. But there's also significant reward and I'm comfortable with the risk."

Hurley said he's looking forward to looking out Endeavour's windows at Earth and he apparently likes to go fast. His NASA biography lists watching "as many NASCAR races as possible" as one of his chief interests

"I don't know what it was, if it was the cars or just the spectacle," Hurley said of the first time he went to a race. "But I was immediately hooked."

Astronaut 500
Rookie astronaut Chris Cassidy, a veteran U.S. Navy SEAL, will be pulling double duty during Endeavour's flight. Not only is the Navy commander part of the shuttle's four-man spacewalking team, he is also slated to become the 500th person in history to reach space once the shuttle launches.

"I'm honored to have a position, whether it's 499, 500 or 501," Cassidy, 39, said in an interview. But he and his crew have been training so hard, they were unaware of the space history milestone, he added.

Cassidy grew up in York, Maine, and spent 10 years as a Navy SEAL. He joined NASA's astronaut corps in 2004, on his second try, as part of the agency's most recent class. He will serve as Mission Specialist 1 and perform three spacewalks during the upcoming mission.

"That whole first eight and a half minutes, I just can't wait," Cassidy said of the initial launch into space. He and wife Julie have three children, two daughters - ages 14 and 12 - and a 10-year-old son.

MORE FROM HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT

Human Spaceflight Section Front

Russian room ready for space station launch Space junk buzzes station while crew sleeps Countdown begins for NASA's uncertain future Space hotel says it's on schedule to open in 2012 Amelia Earhart's scarf flying to space NASA delays Nov. shuttle launch for test flight Space clown comes back down to Earth Billionaire hosts ‘Cirque du Space’ from orbit Astronaut hopefuls don’t mind being ‘Chumps’ Top 10 antics in outer space Human Spaceflight Section Front   Add Human Spaceflight headlines to your news reader: