Astronaut Timothy Kopra to head into space aboard space shuttle Endeavour

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NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, 46, who is of Finnish descent, is scheduled to fly with six other crew members on board the space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station ISS no earlier than Wednesday June 17, 2009.
      The space shuttle Endeavour was scheduled for take off already on Saturday, but the launch was scrubbed because of a hydrogen leak detected during tanking. A similar problem delayed the Discovery space shuttle’s launch in March.
     
The primary purpose of the Endeavour’s STS-127 mission is to deliver and install the final two components of the Japanese Kibo Laboratory Complex: the Exposed Facility (JEM EF), and the Exposed Section of the Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-ES).
      On the ISS, Kopra will assume the role of flight engineer for his tour of duty that is scheduled to last for three months. Kopra will take part in installing various items of equipment and will also perform scientific experiments.
      Already the day after the arrival to the ISS, Kopra is scheduled for a six-and-a-half hour space walk, the purpose of which is to make preparations for the installation of the Kibo lab.
     
During the space walk NASA will also investigate the effects of weightlessness to the astronauts’ vital functions.
      Kopra, who is a United States Army Colonel, served among other things as an Army aviator prior to his selection among 16 other people for astronaut candidate training in 2000.
      In his NASA interview before the scheduled launch Kopra told of his plans to pick up the hobby of photography onboard the ISS. “I don’t think you have a better view of any other place than from the space station”, he said.
     
Timothy Kopra is a third-generation Finn. His grandparents Antti and Ester Kopra moved from the Central Finland city of Jyväskylä to the United States in 1914.
      Their son Lennart Kopra, who was born in the States, is Timothy Kopra’s father.
      Timothy Kopra’s mother, German-born Martha Kopra, is in Florida following the shuttle launch.
      In her email message to Helsingin Sanomat the mother reported that she has not been able to be in touch with her son in recent days, as Timothy Kopra has been in a strictly-monitored quarantine.


Links:
  Timothy L. Kopra (Wikipedia)
  STS-127 (Wikipedia)
  NASA

Helsingin Sanomat