ISS Increment 1 Mission Patch

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.

STS-98 Mission Patch

The STS-98 crew patch. Photo: NASA

STS-98 Crew Thumbnails

Commander: Mr. Kenneth Cockrell, 50
A veteran Naval aviator and shuttle commander, Cockrell is making his fourth space flight, his second as commander. He holds a master's in aeronautical systems, has 650 carrier landings to his credit, more than 7,500 hours flying time and 906 hours in space. He has two children, lists his hobbies as flying, tennis and skiing and is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. He served as a mission specialist during STS-56 in 1993, pilot of STS-69 in 1995 and commander of STS-80 in 1996. He was serving as chief astronaut when named to the STS-98 mission.

Pilot: Mr. Mark Polansky, 44
Polansky is a distinguished graduate of U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School with a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics and more than 5,000 hours flying high performance aircraft. He joined NASA in 1992 as an aerospace engineer and test pilot at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, helping train astronauts in space shuttle landing techniques. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1996. He lists his hobbies as ice hockey, snow skiing and flying light aircraft. STS-98 is his first space flight.

MS-1/EV-2: Navy Cmdr. Robert Curbeam, 38
Married and the father of two children, Curbeam is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a veteran of the Navy's "Topgun" fighter weapons school. He later returned to the Naval Academy where he served as an instructor in the weapons and systems engineering department. He joined NASA in 1994 and flew as a mission specialist aboard the shuttle Discovery for flight STS-85 in 1997, logging 284 hours in space. He lists his hobbies as weight lifting, biking and family activities.

MS-2/FE/RMS: Ms. Marsha Ivins, 49
Ivins, making her fifth shuttle flight, holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, along with a multi-engine Airline Transport Pilot License, land, sea and glider commercial licences and various instructor ratings. She has logged more than 5,700 hours flying time and lists her hobbies as baking and, not surprisingly, flying. She's also logged more than 1,009 hours in space during her four space shuttle missions: STS-32 in 1990; STS-46 in 1992; STS-62 in 1994; and STS-81 in 1997.

MS-3/EV-1: Thomas Jones, Ph.D., 46
A distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Jones piloted B-52D bombers during six years of active duty before earning a doctorate in planetary science and serving as a program management engineer for the Central Intelligence Agency. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1990 and has logged more than 963 days in space during three shuttle missions: STS-59 and STS-68 in 1994; and STS-80 in 1996. He lists his hobbies as reading, baseball, hiking, biking, camping and recreational flying.

Crews at a glance