CNN - The crew of Endeavour

The crew of Endeavour

Six men on a mission one year in the making

May 19, 1996
Web posted at: 1:00 a.m. EDT

Endeavour's journey is the 77th for a space shuttle. During the 10-day mission, astronauts will perform a series of experiments with scientific and commercial applications and help pave the way for assembly of the international space station, beginning in November 1997. A highlight will be the deployment of an inflatable antenna as large as the shuttle itself. Astronauts will also deploy and retrieve a research satellite and perform rendezvous operations with a test satellite.

The crew has been preparing for this mission for a year. There are six men on board, including a Canadian and a native of Australia, the only rookie.

STS-77 STORY LINKS

Endeavour ready to blast off - Shockwave version

Endeavour ready to blast off - Regular Version

Live image from NASA TV

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John H. Casper
commander

John Casper is a colonel with the U.S. Air Force and a veteran of three shuttle missions (STS-36 in 1990, STS-54 in 1993 and STS-62 in 1994). He has spent 585 hours in space.

Casper was born July 9, 1943, in Greenville, South Carolina. He graduated from Chamblee High School in Chamblee, Georgia; has a bachelor's degree in engineering science from the U.S. Air Force Academy; and a master's in astronautics from Purdue University.

"I wanted to be an astronaut ever since I was a child really, maybe 8 or 10 years old. I think reading science fiction and dreaming of flying in space was a childhood dream of mine, and I feel very fortunate and very blessed that I'm able to live out my childhood dream, if you will, and this is the best job in the world -- flying the space shuttle, being able to be a part of this space exploration program that this country has going, and it's wonderful. I love it."

Curt Brown
pilot

Curtis L. Brown Jr. is a lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Air Force and a veteran of two shuttle missions. He was the pilot of STS-47 in 1992, and STS-66 in 1994. He has logged more than 453 hours in space.

Brown was born March 11, 1956, in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. He graduated from East Bladen High School there in 1974 and received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Air Force Academy in 1978.

He was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1987 and completed his training a year later.

"Growing up I loved aircraft, I loved anything that flew, from birds up to aircraft. I grew up in a small town in North Carolina. They really didn't have an airport. We had a little dirt-and-grass field that people flew in and out of, but I was fascinated with aviation and flying ... When I got through high school, my goal was to go to college so I could go fly, and my goal there was to go be a fighter pilot because I thought that would be the most exciting ... The flying thing is what drove me to where I am. I reckon that being an astronaut is the ultimate extension of flying."

Andy Thomas
mission specialist

Andrew S. W. Thomas was born December 18, 1951, in Adelaide, South Australia. He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, with first class honors, from the University of Adelaide in 1973 and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Adelaide in 1978.

Thomas was selected by NASA in March 1992. In August 1993, following one year of training, he was appointed a member of the astronaut corps and qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on space shuttle flight crews. He is now an American citizen.

STS-77 will be Thomas' first space flight.

"I think looking out the window has got to be a big high ... for any first time flyer -- just to go through the launch essence sequence, I think, would be pretty exciting for anybody, particularly a first-time flyer. I'm going to be riding on the flight deck as we go uphill ... and I know I'm going to have my wrist mirror out looking out the overhead window to see what's going on behind us and see the engines ignite and see the exhaust and see the ground recede and see the tower pull away on the side. I think that's going to be pretty exciting."

Daniel W. Bursch
mission specialist

Daniel Bursch became an astronaut in July 1991. He has flown on two space flights, STS-51 in 1993 and STS-68 in 1994. He has logged more than 505 hours in space.

Bursch was born July 25, 1957, in Bristol, Pennsylvania, but considers Vestal, New York, his hometown. He graduated from Vestal Senior High School in 1975; received a bachelor's degree in physics from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1979 and a master's degree in engineering science from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1991.

"I love flying in space. I pinch myself every time that we're up there in orbit. This will be my third flight. I'd love to fly 20 times if they'd let me. The best word to describe it was described by somebody that I flew with in my last flight. He said, 'It's just simply magical.' Being up in space, being weightless, being able to look down on the planet when you see the sights that are just incredible. They are so incredible that you almost can't look at it for too long at a time because you'll take it for granted and that's not what I want to do, but also, it's just so enormous.

Mario Runco Jr.
mission specialist

Mario Runco is a veteran of two space flights, STS-44 in 1991 and STS-54 in 1993, and has logged more than 310 hours in space. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1987 and qualified for assignment in August 1988.

Runco was born January 26, 1952, in Bronx, New York, but he considers Yonkers, New York, his hometown. He graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx in 1970; received a bachelor's degree in meteorology and physical oceanography from City College of New York in 1974; and a master's degree in meteorology from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1976.

Runco was once a New York state policeman, and he compares the two jobs. "I guess they both jobs have risks ... I'm an optimist and look forward to the future."

Marc Garneau
mission specialist.

Marc Garneau is a member of the Canadian Space Agency. He was one of six Canadian astronauts selected in December 1983 and flew as a payload specialist on Shuttle Mission 41-G in October 1984. In 1993 he was appointed a member of the astronaut corps. He has logged more than 197 hours in space.

Garneau was born February 23, 1949, in Quebec City, Canada. He attended primary and secondary schools in Quebec City and Saint-Jean, Quebec, and in London, England. He received a bachelor's degree in engineering physics from the Royal Military College of Kingston in 1970 and a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, in 1973. Garneau attended the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College of Toronto in 1982-83.

"Going into space changes your perspective dramatically, or at least it did for me, in the sense that somehow the daily concerns of my life are not as important as they used to be, because you really do begin to think of the bigger questions, the bigger issues that affect us not only as individuals but affect us as the human race on our planet. In a sense you are physically changing your perspective; when you are on the ground your horizon is limited to about five miles around you ... and much of your life happens within that five miles. When you go up into space, suddenly you can see a thousand miles ahead of you and in that same sense, on an emotional level, on an intellectual level, it shifts your perspective to this bigger plane."

NASA contributed to this report.