Our latest Space Shuttle mission takes off in a rare night-time launch just after 2 AM...here is your congenial crew, which includes Shuttle vet Rick Linnehan from New Hampshire. Of course, the first American astronaut in space came from the Granite State, fellow by the name of Alan Shepard. Al many years later got to go to the moon on an Apollo mission and made himself famous by hitting a golf ball off the lunar surface, which still hasn't been found.From the right (front row) are astronauts Dominic L. Gorie, commander; and Gregory H. Johnson, pilot. From the left (back row) are astronauts Richard M. Linnehan, Robert L. Behnken, Garrett E. Reisman, Michael J. Foreman and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Takao Doi, all mission specialists. Reisman is scheduled to join Expedition 16 as flight engineer after launching to the International Space Station on mission STS-123
Check out the flight status here:
Live forum thread here:
