North Carolina astronaut to board NASA’s next space shuttle flight

April 28th, 2010 - 11:31 pm ICT by BNO News  

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) – NASA announced Wednesday that a North Carolina astronaut will be on their next space shuttle flight.

Tony Antonelli, who was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, will make his second journey into orbit on space shuttle Atlantis’ next mission to the International Space Station. The STS-132 flight is targeted to launch May 14 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Atlantis’ STS-132 mission will deliver the Russian-built Mini Research Module, also known as Rassvet (which means “dawn” in Russian) to the space station. The flight will be carried out by six astronauts who will also deliver critical spare parts and cargo, during the 12-day mission.

Three spacewalks are planned to put the spare parts on the station, as STS-132 is the final scheduled flight of Atlantis. Following STS-132, two more shuttle flights remain scheduled.

Antonelli previously piloted the STS-119 mission in 2009, and he was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2000. He is a commander in the U.S. Navy, has a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a master’s in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Washington. Antonelli has accumulated more than 3,200 hours in 41 different kinds of aircraft and has completed 273 carrier arrested landings. He is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.

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