4/9/2013 Written by Rick Kubetz, College of Engineering
Written by Written by Rick Kubetz, College of Engineering
Coincidentally, Altman is the second Illinois alumnus to command a space shuttle mission this year. In March 2009, Lee J. Archambault (BS, 1982; MS, 1984, Aerospace Engineering) served as mission commander for the 125th shuttle flight to the International Space Station.
Altman is one of seven astronauts who will fly on the space shuttle’s fifth and final servicing mission to Hubble. During the 11-day mission’s five spacewalks, astronauts will install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones, and perform the component replacements that will keep the telescope functioning into at least 2014.
Born in Lincoln, Illinois, Altman attended Pekin Community High School and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois in 1981. Following graduation, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy, receiving his Navy wings of gold in February 1983. In August 1987, he was selected for the Naval Postgraduate School-Test Pilot School Coop program and graduated with Test Pilot School Class 97 in June 1990 as a Distinguished Graduate, spending the next two years as a test pilot on various F-14 projects.
This will be Altman’s fourth shuttle flight since joining the space program in 1995. He has previously flown to the International Space Station and on an earlier Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. (For Altman’s complete biography, click here.)
For the latest information about the Hubble servicing mission and crew, visitwww.nasa.gov/shuttle.