The GAFFers
Official group portrait
The Astronauts of Group 12
Year selected1987
Number selected15
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NASA Astronaut Group 12 (the GAFFers) was a group of 15 astronauts announced by NASA on June 5, 1987.[1]

Group members

Pilots

STS-46 Atlantis — July 1992 — Pilot — Deployment of EURECA and Tethered Satellite System (TSS)[3]
STS-62 Columbia — March 1994 — Pilot — Microgravity experiments[4]
STS-75 Columbia — February 1996 — Commander — Tethered Satellite System reflight, lost due to broken tether[5]
STS-50 Columbia — June 1992 — Pilot — Spacelab mission[7]
STS-61 Endeavour — December 1993 — Pilot — First Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission[8]
STS-73 Columbia — October 1995 — Commander — Spacelab mission[9]
STS-82 Discovery — February 1997 — Commander — Second Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission[10]
STS-113 Endeavour — November 2002 — Mission Specialist 3 (launched only) — ISS assembly flight 11A: P1 truss, crew rotation[11]
ISS Expedition 6 — November 2002–May 2003 — ISS Commander[11]
Soyuz TMA-1 — May 2003 — Flight Engineer (landed only) — ISS crew rotation[12]
STS-47 Endeavour — September 1992 — Pilot — Spacelab-J, Japan-funded Spacelab mission[14]
STS-66 Atlantis — November 1994 — Pilot — ATLAS-3 science platform experiments[15]
STS-77 Endeavour — May 1996 — Pilot — SPACEHAB, SPARTAN[16]
STS-85 Discovery — August 1997 — Commander — Deployed and retrieved CRISTA-SPAS[17]
STS-95 Discovery — October 1998 — Commander — SPACEHAB[18]
STS-103 Discovery — December 1999 — Commander — Third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission[19]
STS-49 Endeavour — May 1992 — Pilot — Intelsat VI hand-retrieval and repair[21]
STS-59 Endeavour — April 1994 — Pilot — Experiments aboard Shuttle Radar Laboratory-1[22]
STS-76 Atlantis — March 1996 — Commander — Third Shuttle-Mir docking[23]
STS-39 Discovery — April 1991 — Mission Specialist 4 — First unclassified DoD mission, military science experiments[25]
STS-54 Endeavour — January 1993 — Pilot – Tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS-F) deployment[26]
STS-66 Atlantis — November 1994 — Commander — ATLAS-3 science platform experiments[15]
STS-42 Discovery — January 1992 — Mission Specialist 3 — Spacelab mission[28]
STS-51 Discovery — September 1993 — Pilot — ACTS satellite deployment, SPAS-ORFEUS deployment and retrieval[29]
STS-79 Atlantis — September 1996 — Commander — Fourth Shuttle-Mir docking[30]
STS-48 Discovery — September 1991 — Pilot — Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite deployment[32]
STS-60 Discovery — February 1994 — Pilot — SPACEHAB, Wake Shield Facility[33]

Mission specialists

STS-41 Discovery — October 1990 — Mission Specialist 3 — Ulysses/Inertial Upper Stage solar probe deployment[35]
STS-49 Endeavour — May 1992 — Mission Specialist 4 — Intelsat VI hand-retrieval and repair[21]
STS-61 Endeavour — December 1993 — Mission Specialist 5 — First Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission[8]
STS-79 Atlantis — September 1996 — Mission Specialist 1 — Fourth Shuttle-Mir docking[30]
STS-47 Endeavour — September 1992 — Mission Specialist 2 — Spacelab-J, Japan-funded Spacelab mission[14]
STS-60 Discovery — February 1994 — Mission Specialist 1 — SPACEHAB, Wake Shield Facility[33]
STS-85 Discovery — August 1997 — Payload Commander — Deployed and retrieved CRISTA-SPAS[17]
STS-45 Atlantis — March 1992 — Mission Specialist 3 — ATLAS-1 science platform[38]
STS-56 Discovery — April 1993 — Mission Specialist 1 — ATLAS-2 science platform[39]
STS-63 Discovery — February 1995 — Mission Specialist 1 — First Shuttle-Mir rendezvous, SPACEHAB[40]
STS-84 Atlantis — May 1997 — Mission Specialist 5 (launched only) — Sixth Shuttle-Mir docking[41]
Mir EO-23/Mir EO-24 — May 1997–October 1997 — Flight Engineer 2[41]
STS-86 Atlantis — October 1997 — Mission Specialist 5 (landed only) — Seventh Shuttle-Mir docking[42]
STS-103 Discovery — December 1999 — Mission Specialist 3 — Third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission[19]
Soyuz TMA-3 — October 2003–April 2004 — Flight Engineer — ISS crew rotation[43]
ISS Expedition 8 — October 2003–April 2004 — ISS Commander[43]
STS-39 Discovery — April 1991 — Mission Specialist 2 — First unclassified DoD mission, military science experiments[25]
STS-54 Endeavour — January 1993 — Mission Specialist 2 – Tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS-F) deployment[26]
STS-71 Atlantis — June 1995 — Mission Specialist 1 — First Shuttle-Mir docking[45]
STS-82 Discovery — February 1997 — Mission Specialist 3 — Second Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission[10]
STS-47 Endeavour — September 1992 — Mission Specialist 4 — Spacelab-J, Japan-funded Spacelab mission[14]
STS-41 Discovery — October 1990 — Mission Specialist 1 — Ulysses/Inertial Upper Stage solar probe deployment[35]
STS-49 Endeavour — May 1992 — Mission Specialist 2 — Intelsat VI hand-retrieval and repair[21]
STS-44 Atlantis — November 1991 — Mission Specialist 2 — DSP satellite deployment[49]
STS-54 Endeavour — January 1993 — Mission Specialist 1 – Tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS-F) deployment[26]
STS-77 Endeavour — May 1996 — Mission Specialist 3 — SPACEHAB, SPARTAN[16]
STS-44 Atlantis — November 1991 — Mission Specialist 3 — DSP satellite deployment[49]
STS-53 Discovery — December 1992 — Mission Specialist 2 — Partially classified 10th and final DoD mission, likely deployment of SDS2 satellite[51]
STS-69 Endeavour — September 1995 — Mission Specialist 1 — Wake Shield Facility, SPARTAN[52]
STS-101 Atlantis — May 2000 — Mission Specialist 3 — ISS supply[53]
STS-102 Discovery — March 2001 — Mission Specialist 4 (launched only) — ISS supply and crew rotation[54]
ISS Expedition 2 — March 2001–August 2001 — Flight Engineer 2[55]
STS-105 Discovery — August 2001 — Mission Specialist 4 (landed only) — ISS supply and crew rotation[56][57]

Further information

The group's informal nickname is an acronym for "George Abbey Final Fifteen".[58] Of this group, Mae Jemison would become the first female African-American in space,[59] Bruce Melnick the first Coast Guard aviator in space,[60] while Michael Foale would fly aboard the Mir space station.[37] At the time of the Columbia accident in 2003, William Readdy was Associate Administrator for Space Flight[27] and Kenneth Bowersox was commanding the Expedition 6 crew on the ISS.[6] Chilton, after leaving NASA, became the first NASA astronaut to become a General in the U.S. Air Force[61] (Lt. Gen. Thomas Stafford, USAF,[62] and VADM Richard Truly, USN[63] were three-star officers) and was commander of U.S. Strategic Command from October 2007 until January 2011.[61]

See also

References

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External links

NASA Astronaut Group 12, "The GAFFers", 1987
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