New Class Selected For Astronaut Hall Of Fame

The first commander of the International Space Station will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall Of Fame in May along with a veteran shuttle mission commander and an astronaut who flew untethered in jet backpack during a mission to repair the Solar Max observatory.

Former NASA astronauts William "Bill" Shepherd, James Wetherbee and George "Pinky" Nelson were selected this week as the eighth group of space shuttle-era astronauts to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, which is located just outside the gates to Kennedy Space Center.

The three space fliers will be welcomed to the ranks of legendary pioneers like Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Jim Lovell, Sally Ride and John Young.

The addition of the three men will bring the Hall's number of enshrined space explorers to 73, which includes all of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab astronauts.

The 2009 members were selected by a committee of current Hall of Fame inductees, former NASA officials and flight directors, historians and journalists.

A former Navy SEAL and a veteran of four space flights, Shepherd and the crew of Expedition One -- which also included Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko -- gave the International Space Station its unofficial radio call sign "Alpha."

He first flew as a mission specialist on STS-27, a classified Department of Defense mission that was NASA's second post-Challenger shuttle flight.

He also flew as a mission specialist on STS-41, a mission to deploy the Ulysses solar observatory, which explored the polar regions of the sun. Current Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana was the pilot on that flight.

Shepherd also flew on STS-52, a mission to deploy a spacecraft used to gather highly precise measurements of the shape of the planet as well as data that enabled researchers to determine tectonic plate movements associated with continental drift.

The STS-52 mission was led by Wetherbee, the only astronaut to command five shuttle missions. Once a drummer in the all-astronaut band Max Q, Weatherbee also flew another mission as a pilot, bringing to six the number of shuttle flights he flew during 19 years in the NASA Astronaut Corps.

Wetherbee piloted STS-32, a mission to retrieve the Long Duration Exposure Facility, a spacecraft launched in 1984.

He commanded STS-52 as well as STS-63, a mission to rendezvous but not dock with the Russian space statioon Mir. Wetherbee flew shuttle Discovery within 33 feet of Mir during a warm-up for a series of nine shuttle missions to the Russian space station. The shuttle-Mir missions were a prelude to the assembly of the International Space Station.

Wetherbee also commanded STS-86, the longest shuttle-Mir mission and a flight that featured the first U.S.-Russian spacewalk. In 2001 and 2002, Wetherbee commanded missions to the International Space Station.

On STS-102, Wetherbee led a crew that delivered the Expedition Two crew to the station and returned Shepherd and the Expedition One crew back to Earth. On STS-113, Wetherbee commanded a mission to deliver a central truss segment as well as the Expedition Six crew to the station. The Expedition 5 crew returned to Earth at the end of that mission.

Nelson first flew on STS-41C in 1984, the first satellite repair mission to be flown during the shuttle program. Nelson and James "Ox" van Hoften repaired the malfunctioning Solar Max observatory and also tested the Manned Manuevering Unit -- a jet backpack that enabled astronauts to fly untethered from the shuttle.

The Long Duration Exposure Facility -- a large spacecraft that housed 57 space science experiments -- was deployed on that mission.

Nelson also served as a mission specialist on STS-61C. Then U.S. Rep. Bill Nelson, now the senior U.S. Senator from the state of Florida, flew as a payload specialist on that mission, which landed 10 days prior to the 1986 Challenger accident.

Nelson also flew as a mission specialist on STS-26, NASA's first post-Challenger flight in September 1988.

Nelson now is Director of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education at Western Washington University.

Wetherbee is a safety auditor with BP Global, one of the world's largest energy companies.

Shepherd went on to become a civilian engineer assigned to the staff of the commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, where he assisted with the development of new capabilities and programs for Navy SEALs and Special Boat Sailors of Tomorrow.

A gala and an induction ceremony will be hosted at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, home to the Hall of Fame, on May 1 and May 2. The public is invited to attend the Hall of Fame induction ceremony May 2.