'84 Academy grad to pilot shuttle

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WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  A U.S. Air Force Academy graduate will pilot Space Shuttle mission STS-134 to the International Space Station, NASA announced Aug. 12.

Retired Col. Gregory Johnson will serve as the pilot for the mission, commanded by Navy Capt. Mark Kelly.

Mission specialists are Col. Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and Italian air force Col. Roberto Vittori, a European Space Agency astronaut.

NASA also announced it is changing the designation of the STS-134 mission to STS-132.

The flight will deliver the alpha magnetic spectrometer to the station. The AMS is a state-of-the-art cosmic ray particle physics detector designed to examine fundamental issues about matter and the origin and structure of the universe. It will include three spacewalks and the installation of the AMS to the exterior of the space station using both the shuttle and station arms. The AMS will be attached to the right side of the station's truss, or backbone.

Colonel Johnson previously flew as a pilot on STS-123 in 2008. He was born in South Ruislip, Middlesex, United Kingdom, but graduated from Park Hills High School in Fairborn, Ohio. Colonel Johnson is a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. He holds master's degrees from Columbia University and the University of Texas, Austin.

Colonel Johnson was pilot of STS-123 Endeavour is 2008, which completed both launch and landing at night. It was the 25th Shuttle/Station assembly mission. Endeavour's crew delivered the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module - Pressurized Section, the first pressurized component of JAXA's Kibo Laboratory, and the final element of the station's mobile servicing system, the Canadian-built Dextre, also known as the special purpose dextrous manipulator. In addition to pilot duties aboard Endeavour, Colonel Johnson was a primary robotic arm operator, employing both the Space Shuttle and ISS robotic arms in support of numerous tasks throughout the mission. The STS-123 crew performed a record five spacewalks while docked to the station. The crew also delivered Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, and returned to Earth with ESA's Léopold Eyharts.

He has logged 4,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft. To date, Colonel Johnson's space flight experience includes 250 orbits of the Earth, traveling more than six million miles in 15 days, 18 hours, 10 minutes and 54 seconds.

Another bluesuiter going to space again is Colonel Fincke. He is a veteran of two long-duration missions aboard the space station. He served as the NASA science officer and flight engineer on Expedition 9, and commander for Expedition 18. He was born in Pittsburgh and considers Emsworth, Pa., his hometown. He has an Associate Science degree from El Camino College in Torrance, Calif., two bachelor's degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and master's degrees from Stanford University and the University of Houston - Clear Lake.

(Information compiled from NASA press releases and staff reports.)