Alumni to take Academy experiment into space on Endeavour
Posted 5/16/2011
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by John Van Winkle
U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
5/16/2011 - U.S AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFNS) -- An Air Force Academy graduate piloted the space shuttle Endeavour from Cape Canaveral, Fla., for NASA's STS-134 mission May 16.
Retired Col. Gregory H. Johnson, a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, piloted the STS-134 crew while carrying an Air Force Academy physics experiment into space.
"We are an International Space Station assembly mission, one of the final ones," Colonel Johnson said. "We're taking up a very important experiment, the alpha magnetic spectrometer, (which) could change the course of physics. And we're also taking some pieces and parts up to the (International Space Station) in anticipation of the shuttle retiring, because we only have a few more shuttle flights."
While the crew, including four mission specialists, is busy with four spacewalks and robotic arm operations, Colonel Johnson will also act as the head arm operator, overseeing operations with both the shuttle and the space station robotic arms.
"I'll be taking part in both sides of that endeavor, moving the robotic arms, moving the pieces and parts around, inspecting the shuttle prior to reentry and after launch," he said.
The shuttle is scheduled to dock at the ISS early in its 16-day mission to transfer several experiments and supplies to the space station.
Among those experiments is Canary, one of the latest creations of the Academy's Space Physics and Atmospheric Research Center. Canary is a 10-centimeter cube that will be bolted to the exterior of the ISS. It is designed to investigate the interactions of approaching spacecraft and the background plasma environment around the space station.
Canary is one of four scientific experiments in the payload of Space Test Program Houston 3, which is managed by the Department of Defense Space Test Program offices at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The shuttle is scheduled to land June 1 at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. This is scheduled to be the space shuttle Endeavour's final planned mission. The entire space shuttle fleet is slated for retirement, and only one planned space shuttle mission remains: Atlantis is slated to launch June 28 and land July 10.
More information on the latest space shuttle mission and its crew is available online at
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts134/index.html.
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