August 2, 2007

NASA Public Affairs Office

Paul Foerman, NASA News Chief
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
(228) 688-1880
Paul.Foerman-1@nasa.gov
RELEASE: STS-07-083

SPACE SHUTTLE ASTRONAUTS STURCKOW, FORRESTER VISIT STENNIS

SPACE CENTER

Commander Rick Sturckow and Astronaut Pat Forrester of NASA's recent

STS-117 space shuttle mission visited NASA Stennis Space Center in
south Mississippi on Thursday, Aug. 2, to thank SSC employees for the
reliability of the space shuttle's main engines, which helped propel
Space Shuttle Atlantis into orbit during its June 8 launch. Since
1975, all space shuttle main engines have been tested and proven
flight-worthy at SSC.

"We really appreciate what you've done," Forrester said, "so that we
have that good ride and a successful mission."

While at SSC, the astronauts talked about the highlights of their

journey to the International Space Station and showed a video of
breathtaking images they took of Earth while on board the shuttle.
Sturckow pointed to the crew's completed work on the ISS during
footage taken of the station as the shuttle departed for its return
to Earth. STS-117's crew installed matching solar arrays and truss
segments on the starboard side of the space station.

The astronauts held a question-and-answer session, and later met

one-on-one with SSC employees and signed autographs at a reception
held in SSC's visitor center, StenniSphere.

Sturckow and Forrester also presented "Silver Snoopy" awards to two

SSC employees: Dewey L. Herring of Ocean Springs, Miss., Education
Officer; and Bill St. Cyr of Slidell, La., who works in SSC's Science
& Technology Division. The Silver Snoopy is the personal achievement
award given to space program workers by NASA’s Astronaut Corps.
Astronauts always present the Silver Snoopy because it is the
astronaut corps’ own award for outstanding performance, contributing
to flight safety and mission success. Less than 1 percent of the
workforce is awarded the Silver Snoopy.
Other STS-117 crewmembers were: Pilot Lee Archambault; and mission
specialists James Reilly II, Steven Swanson, and John D. Olivas. The
June mission also carried Flight Engineer Clayton C. Anderson to the
station. He is scheduled to return home aboard Space Shuttle
Endeavour on mission STS-118, which is scheduled to launch Aug. 7.

During the STS-117 mission, Sturckow, Forrester and their fellow

astronauts delivered the second starboard truss segment, the third
set of U.S. solar arrays, batteries and associated equipment to the
International Space Station. Sturckow was commander of the mission,
and served as pilot on two previous missions, STS-88 in 1998 (the
first International Space Station assembly mission), and STS-105 in
2001. Forrester, who also flew on NASA's STS-105 mission in 2001,
performed two of STS-117's four spacewalks, accumulating 13 hours and
37 minutes of extravehicular activity time.

For information about NASA's Space Shuttle Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

Related Multimedia:
+http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/news/releases/2007/STS-07-083-cptn.html

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