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From May 29 to July 17, 2009, for the first time in its history, each of the five partner agencies participating in the International Space Station Program had a crew member living and working aboard the orbiting facility at the same time. The ******* also marked the beginning of six-person crew habitation, greatly increasing the time available for utilization. The addition of the international partner elements and life support systems to enable the larger crew size made this 49-day event possible. Although international partner crew members routinely live and work aboard the station, its crew size now expanded to seven, having all the partners represented at the same time ******** a unique event in the space station’s history. Left: Plaque commemorating the signing of the 1988 Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) governing the International Space Station partnership. Middle: Signatories of the 1998 IGA visit the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, posing in front of the Unity Node 1 module being prepared for launch. Right: ****** NASA-Roscosmos crew of STS-88, the first space station assembly mission. The International Space Station as we know it came into existence in 1993 with the merging of Space Station Freedom, a partnership among the ******* States, Canada, Japan, and the ********* Space Agency (ESA), with Russia’s planned Mir-2 space station. In January 1998, representatives of these space agencies met at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and signed the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that established the framework for use of the orbiting laboratory. The IGA stipulated the contributions of each agency to the program that entitled them commensurate utilization of the research facility as well as long-duration crew member flight opportunities, beginning when their elements had reached the station. Separate agreements covered the flights of International Partner astronauts on space shuttle assembly flights, usually to accompany elements from their agencies. In orbit construction of the space station began 11 months after the signing of the IGA. From the first assembly mission in December 1998 to March 2001, all components belonged to either NASA or Roscosmos, a fact reflected in the makeup of early space shuttle and expedition crews. The crew of the STS-88, the first space shuttle assembly mission, included five NASA astronauts and cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev representing Roscosmos. Left: STS-96 included Julie Payette, third from left, the first ********* Space Agency astronaut to visit the space station. Middle: STS-92 included Koichi Wakata, right, the first astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to visit the space station. Right: The ****** NASA-Roscosmos space station Expedition 1 crew. As early assembly continued, select space shuttle missions included International Partner crew members. The ********* Space Agency’s (CSA) first astronaut to visit the space station, Julie Payette, flew as one of the seven crew members on the second assembly flight, STS-96 in May-June 1999. The first astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to visit the station, Koichi Wakata, flew on the fifth assembly flight, STS-92 in October 2000. When the Expedition 1 crew arrived to begin permanent habitation of the space station in November 2000, the crew consisted of NASA astronaut William M. Shepherd, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Krikalev and Yuri P. Gidenzko. The next six expeditions maintained the two-and-one crew composition, alternating between expeditions, until the impacts from the Columbia accident reduced crew size to two until Expedition 13. During this time, NASA and Roscosmos each had one crew member on board. Left: STS-100 included Umberto Guidoni, center, the first ********* Space Agency (ESA) astronaut to visit the space station. Middle: Expedition 13 included Thomas A. Reiter, left, the first ESA astronaut to serve as a long-duration crew member on the space station. Right: STS-119 delivered Koichi Wakata, right, the first astronaut from the ********* Aerospace Exploration Agency to serve as a long-duration crewmember on the space station. The first ESA astronaut to visit the space station, Umberto Guidoni from Italy, served as a mission specialist on STS-100 in April 2001. The seven-member crew also included CSA’s Christopher A. Hadfield, who accompanied and helped install the ********* Space Station Remote Manipulator System, and Yuri V. Lonchakov from Roscosmos, making the STS-100 crew the most internationally diverse shuttle assembly crew. Thomas A. Reiter from Germany arrived at the station aboard STS-121 in July 2006, joining Expedition 13 as ESA’s first long-duration resident crew member, and also returning the onboard crew size back to three. Wakata arrived at the station on STS-119 in March 2009 as JAXA’s first long-duration crew member, joining Expedition 19’s Lonchakov and E. Michael Fincke. Wakata’s arrival set in motion the steps leading to the unique occasion of having each of the five partners with a crew member living and working aboard the space station at the same time. Left: Expedition 19 crew of Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, left, NASA astronaut E. Michael Fincke, and Yuri V. Lonchakov of Roscosmos. Middle: Gennadi I. Padalka of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronaut Michael M. Barratt of Expedition 19. Right: ********* Space Agency astronaut Robert B. Thirsk, left, Roman Y. Romanenko of Roscosmos, and ********* Space Agency astronaut Frank L. DeWinne of Expedition 20. Eleven days after Wakata’s arrival, Soyuz TMA-14 delivered replacement Expedition 19 crew members NASA astronaut Michael M. Barratt and Gennadi I. Padalka of Roscosmos. On May 29, ESA’s Frank L. DeWinne and CSA’s Robert B. Thirsk, along with Roman Y. Romanenko of Roscosmos arrived aboard Soyuz TMA-15, and all five space station partners had representatives on board. Their arrival began Expedition 20 and the first ******* of six-person crew residency. Left: Preflight crew photo of Expedition 20, the first six-person crew on the space station – Michael M. Barratt (NASA), Frank L. DeWinne (ESA), Robert B. Thirsk (CSA), Koichi Wakata (JAXA), Gennadi I. Padalka (Roscosmos), and Roman Y. Romanenko (Roscosmos). Middle: Inflight photo of the Expedition 20 crew. Right: The Expedition 20 crew members put their heads together. The ******* of full international representation proved brief, however, lasting just 49 days, and ******** unique to this day. Wakata broke up the party on July 17 when he exchanged places with NASA astronaut Timothy L. Kopra who arrived aboard STS-127. Barratt and Padalka left on Oct. 11, replaced by another NASA-Roscosmos crew. Finally, Romanenko, DeWinne, and Thirsk left on Dec. 1, replaced after a brief gap by a crew consisting of a NASA astronaut, a JAXA astronaut, and a representative of Roscosmos. Explore More 18 min read 40 Years Ago: NASA Selects its 10th Group of Astronauts Article 6 days ago 21 min read 55 Years Ago: Two Months Until the Moon Landing Article 1 week ago 16 min read 15 Years Ago: STS-125, the Final Hubble Servicing Mission Article 2 weeks ago View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

While NASA promotes the availability of EAP counselors at each Center, there may be reasons when, during a mental health crisis, employees do not think about EAP or cannot remember how to access. Now, the ******** and Crises Lifeline ([Hidden Content]) is available to anyone, anytime nationwide by calling or texting three numbers from your cell phone “988”. Please check out their link for more information about the Lifeline and additional mental health resources. For MAF Employee Assistance Program Office support contact Porter Pryor at *****@*****.tld or call or text 228-363-4910. If you need support grieving a recent or past ****** of a friend or family member, consider joining the monthly Grief Support Group for SSC/NSSC/MAF/MSFC employees (via NASA Teams) by contacting Porter Pryor. Additional resources and education available through NASA Occupational Health’s Health4Life link: Mission: HEALTH / Health 4 Life – Home (sharepoint.com) View the full article

When you think about personal property, your home, clothes, and electronic devices probably come to mind. For NASA, personal property comprises government-owned government-held assets ranging from laptops to spacecraft and space station components. Managing the financial records for these assets is the responsibility of the Property Accounting Team, which includes Personal Property Accountant Britney *****. ***** sits within the Accounting Services Office of Johnson Space Center’s Office of the Chief Financial Services Officer (OCFO). She works with her colleagues to determine which NASA-held assets must be tracked over time versus expensed, and to ensure those assets are reported appropriately on Johnson’s financial statements. Official portrait of Britney *****.NASA/Josh Valcarcel While she has only held her civil ******** position for a few months, ***** is no stranger to Johnson or the OCFO. She completed five rotations with NASA’s Pathways Program between 2021 and 2023, including two stints as a property accounting intern for her current office. “I jumped around a bit as an intern because I really wanted to have a full understanding of NASA’s whole business,” she said. “It made things click to see the entire process of how funds are being used and recorded throughout the agency.” ***** particularly enjoyed her rotations with the Property Accounting Team and feels lucky to rejoin them as a full-time employee. As an accounting major at the University of Houston’s C.T. Bauer College of Business, ***** planned to work for a public accounting firm or a private company when she graduated, until she stumbled upon a Pathways internship opportunity. “It was in a newsletter that my school put out, which I rarely opened, but one day I did, and I saw the call for applications,” she said. “I thought I might as well throw my hat into the ring and see where it got me.” Britney ***** tries on a spacesuit glove and attempts basic astronaut tasks, like latching and unlatching tethers, during Johnson Space Center’s Intern, Innovation, and Industry Day on July 13, 2023.Image courtesy of Britney ***** ***** believes her experience highlights an important opportunity for NASA to attract more diverse talent by reaching out to students enrolled in a wider variety of schools and academic fields. “When you think of NASA, you think of engineers and rockets. I think that’s why a lot of people in business specifically do not consider NASA as a career option, because they forget that we do need mission support operations to keep things running,” she said. “I’m really passionate about telling people about the opportunities at NASA, especially on the business side.” That passion prompted ***** to work with ASIA ERG to host a virtual event with the University of Houston’s ****** Business Student Association last year. At the time, she was participating in the group’s education and outreach and social cohorts as a Pathways intern. ***** developed a presentation for the event that provided overviews of Johnson’s business organizations, describing each organization’s work and related career opportunities for students. She also recruited several employees from those organizations to participate in the presentation and a brief panel discussion that followed. Britney ***** participates in a payload-capture simulation from a mockup of the International Space Station’s cupola during an intern tour of Johnson’s systems engineering simulators in March 2023. Image courtesy of Britney ***** ***** said that she has never felt like a ********* on the teams she has been a part of, noting that her current team is almost entirely female and includes several people of ******, but she knows this may not be every Johnson employee’s experience. During one intern orientation session, ***** observed that she was one of five or six women in a room of 30 people. “I did not like that feeling and I expressed that to the Pathways coordinators,” she said. “I think if people don’t see someone similar to them, or someone they can relate to, it’s ******* for them to feel like they can apply.” A self-described foodie, ***** said that showing openness and acceptance of teammates’ ******* foods is one way that every Johnson employee can promote cultural understanding and inclusivity. ****** ********* families often share stories about bringing ****** food to school for lunch as kids and getting teased by other students because it smelled different, she said, adding that she hopes the growing popularity of ******* cuisines will help put an end to those experiences. Telling her fellow Pathways interns that she enjoys trying different foods around Houston helped her build connections with them, and many approached her with questions about where they should go and what they should try. “The easiest way to start a conversation is to talk about food, and food is very integral to a culture,” she said. View the full article