The Expedition 1 crew patch. Photo: NASA

ISS Increment 1 Crew thumbnails

ISS Commander: Navy Capt. William Shepherd, 51
Trained as an elite Navy SEAL, Shepherd joined the Navy to become a pilot but became a diver instead. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a master's in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Selected as an astronaut in 1984, Shepherd has flown on three shuttle missions - STS-27, STS-41 and STS-52 - and has logged some 440 hours in space. He lists his hobbies as sailing, swimming and working in the garage. He is married and has served in a variety of senior space station management positions prior to being named commander of the ISS-1 crew.

Soyuz Commander: Russian Air Force Lt. Col. Yuri Gidzenko, 38
Gidzenko is a senior Russian Air Force pilot and a veteran cosmonaut who holds three Armed Forces medals. Married and the father of two sons, Gidzenko lists his hobbles as swimming, team sports and football. He was selected as a cosmonaut in 1987 and served as backup commander of the Euromir-94 flight. He finally flew in space as commander of the Euromir-95 mission, which launched Sept. 3, 1995, and landed Feb. 29, 1996. He is a veteran skydiver with degrees from the Kharkov Military Aviation College of Pilots and Moscow State University.

Flight engineer: Sergei Krikalev, 42
One of the world's most accomplished space fliers, Krikalev is married and the father of one daughter. He lists his hobbies as swimming, skiing, bike riding, aerobatic flying and ham radio operations. He was selected as a cosmonaut in 1985 and first flew in space in 1988. He returned to the Mir space station in May 1991 for an extended stay and later, in 1994, became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard NASA's space shuttle. Krikalev also was a member of the shuttle Endeavour's crew in December 1998, NASA's first space station assembly flight. He is a member of the Russian and Soviet national aerobatic flying teams and holds a variety of honors and awards.

The STS-97 crew patch. Photo: NASA

STS-97/ISS 4A Crew thumbnails

Commander: Navy Cmdr. Brent Jett, 42
First in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy and a distinguished graduate of U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Jett is a former F-14 Tomcat fighter pilot with more than 3,500 hours of flying time and more than 450 carrier landings to his credit. He is married and lists his hobbies as water and snow skiing, board sailing, boating, basketball and squash. Jett was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1992 and is a veteran of two shuttle missions: STS-72 and STS-81. He has logged 459 hours in space. This is his first flight as commander.

Pilot: Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Bloomfield, 41
Bloomfield played football for the U.S. Air Force Academy, was top graduate from Air Force undergraduate pilot training and a distinguished graduate of U.S. Air Force Test Pilot school. Married and the father of two children, Bloomfield lists his hobbies as reading, gardening and all sporting activities. He flew F-15 fighters in the United States and Germany before being selected as a NASA astronaut in 1995. He served as pilot of mission STS-86, logging more than 259 hours in space.

MS1/EV1: Joseph Tanner, 50
A mountaineer who enjoys swimming and camping, Tanner flew A7E jets for the Navy aboard the USS Coral Sea before joining NASA as a research pilot in 1984. At the Johnson Space Center, he trained astronauts to fly NASA's shuttle training jets and T-38 jet trainers. He has logged more than 7,500 hours flying time in military and NASA aircraft. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1992 and is a veteran of two space flights: STS-66 and STS-82. Tanner has logged more than 502 hours in space, including 14 hours of spacewalking time to service the Hubble Space Telescope in 1997. He is married and has two children.

MS2/FE/RMS: Canadian astronaut Marc Garneu, Ph.D., 51
Canadian astronaut Garneau is one of the few fliers still on NASA's active-duty roster to have flown a pre-Challenger shuttle mission. Married and the father of three children, Garneau is an avid pilot, scuba diver and tennis player who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1970 in a 59-foot yawl with 12 others. A naval weapons expert, Garneau was one of six Canadians selected for astronaut training in 1983. He first flew as a payload specialist on mission STS-41G in October 1984. He became a NASA astronaut in 1992 and flew as a mission specialist aboard STS-77. He has logged more than 437 hours in space.

MS3/EV2: Marine Lt. Col. Carlos Noriega, 41
Noriega is a married father of five who runs, snow skis and plays raquetball in his spare time. He was commissioned after ROTC at the University of Southern California and flew CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters in Hawaii. He later earned to master's degrees from Naval Postgraduate School and served as a Space Surveillance Center Commander in Colorado Springs. He has logged 2,200 hours flying time. Noriega was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1994 and served as a mission specialist on mission STS-84, a flight to the Russian Mir space station. He has logged more than 221 hours in space.

Crews at a glance