Aboard Shuttle Endeavour

Let’s look at the five men and one woman en route to the International Space Station:

Commander George Zamka is the person that bring the fragments of moon rick by Neil Amstrong up to Mount Everest by a former shuttle astronaut last spring. Zamka accepted the rocks last month and said he would make sure they got into the new space station compartments flying up on Endeavour. They will serve, he said, "as a reminder to all of the astronauts who are up there, what human beings can do and what our challenges are."

Zamka is 47 year ld Marine colonel grew up in New York, Rochester Hills, Mich., and Medellin, Colombia, his mother's hometown. It was "a great enticement" for pursuing an aviation career. His Colombian pilot uncle also was an influence.

Zamka went on to become a fighter pilot. He and wife Elisa have a 15-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy.
Pilot Terry Virts' childhood revolved around the space program.

He grew up in Columbia, Md., not far from Goddard Space Flight Center, where his parents worked. Mom was a secretary, and dad was a technician for NASA's Landsat satellites.

Virts, 42, said his first book as a child was about the Apollo moon landings and his bedroom was adorned with rocket and airplane posters. He'd occasionally accompany his father to the satellite control room at Goddard in the 1970s.