The STS-107 crew

Seven people from a wide variety of backgrounds formed the STS-107 crew. They included test pilots, engineers, and medical doctors. Some of them wanted to become astronauts from the time they were young children, others only found out they had the opportunity to fly in space when they became adults. Ilan Ramon was the first space traveler from Israel and extremely famous in Israel. While Kalpana Chawla was an American citizen she was praised as a role model in her birth country, India. Because of the Columbia accident their names have gone into the history books.

Click on each astronaut's portrait for more detailed information.

Rick Husband
Commander

Willie McCool
Pilot

Dave Brown
Mission Specialist 1

Kalpana Chawla
Mission Specialist 2

Mike Anderson
Payload Commander
Mission Specialist 3

Laurel Clark
Mission Specialist 4

Ilan Ramon
Payload Specialist

Rick, K.C., and Mike, the three veterans on the crew, became astronauts in 1995. At that point NASA was selecting new astronauts on a biannual basis, but the previous selection was in 1992. The decision was made to delay the 1994 astronaut class to 1995 as part of an overall government downsizing initiative. The 1995 astronaut class got the nickname “snails” because they were so slow in arriving! When two French astronauts were added to the class, the name quickly changed to the “escargot,” with the class proudly referring to themselves as the “flying escargot.”
Willie, Laurel, and Dave became astronauts in 1996. NASA anticipated an increase in the shuttle's flight rate to support the space station’s assembly, plus a full seven-person space station crew on-orbit. With more activities in space, more astronauts would be needed. The 1996 class had a total of 44 astronauts -- larger than any other astronaut class. They were quickly nicknamed the “sardines” because of how tightly you'd have to pack them to fit them into the shuttle at the same time -- or even a conference room.

Photos by NASA.
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