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Franklin Chang Díaz

American - (NASA)

Retired

Date of Birth: April 5, 1950
Age: 74


Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz is a Costa Rican Chinese American mechanical engineer, physicist, former NASA astronaut. He is the founder and current CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company as well as a member of Cummins' board of directors. He became an American citizen in 1977. He is of Chinese (paternal side) and Costa Rican Spanish (maternal side) descent. He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, tieing the record, as of 2018 for the most spaceflights (a record set by Jerry L. Ross). He was the third Latin American, but the first Latin American immigrant NASA Astronaut selected to go into space. Chang Díaz is a member of the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-61-C

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Jan. 12, 1986, 11:55 a.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-61-C was the twenty-fourth mission of the shuttle program and the seventh of the Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission included the second African-American shuttle pilot, future NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, the first Costa Rican born astronaut and the second sitting politican to fly in space: Bill Nelson.

Low Earth Orbit
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Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-34

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Oct. 18, 1989, 4:53 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-34 was the thirty-first shuttle mission and the fifth for Atlantis. It deployed the Jupiter-bound Galileo probe.

Low Earth Orbit
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Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-46

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
July 31, 1992, 1:56 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-46 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission using Space Shuttle Atlantis and was launched on 31 July 1992 at 9:56:48 am EDT.

Low Earth Orbit
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Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-60

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Feb. 3, 1994, 12:10 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-60 was the first mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried Sergei K. Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a Space Shuttle. The mission used Space Shuttle Discovery, which lifted off from Launch Pad 39A on 3 February 1994 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The mission carried the Wake Shield Facility experiment and a SPACEHAB module into orbit, and carried out a live bi-directional audio and downlink link-up with the cosmonauts aboard the Russian space station Mir.

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Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-75

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Feb. 22, 1996, 8:18 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-75 was a United States NASA Space Shuttle mission, the 19th mission of the Columbia orbiter.

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Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-91

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
June 2, 1998, 10:06 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-91 was the final Space Shuttle mission to the Mir space station. It was flown by Space Shuttle Discovery, and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 2 June 1998.

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Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-111

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
June 5, 2002, 9:22 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-111 was a space shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour. STS-111 resupplied the station and replaced the Expedition 4 crew with the Expedition 5 crew. It was launched on 5 June 2002, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

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Administrator: Bill Nelson

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 4 hours ago
Bandwagon 2 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers…


Long March 3
Success
2 days, 1 hour ago
TJSW-12
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Ceres-1S
Success
3 days, 5 hours ago
Tianqi 33-36
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.


KAIROS
Failure
4 days, 14 hours ago
Flight 2
Space One Launch Pad - Spaceport Kii, Japan

Second flight of the KAIROS launch vehicle. 5 satellites for testing various technologies will be on board: * TATARA-1 * PARUS-T1A * SC-Sat1…


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 17 hours ago
O3b mPower 7 & 8
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Seventh and eighth of a constellation of eleven high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by…