STS-128 crew members pictured are: in the front row, from the left, Rick Sturckow, Jose Hernandez and Patrick Forrester; in the center, Nicole Stott; in the back, from the left, Kevin Ford, John “Danny” Olivas and Christer Fuglesang.

A Flight to Remember

Before his first mission, Patrick Forrester heard this candid appraisal of the astronaut experience from veterans: “For your first flight, you don’t care what you’re doing or who you’re doing it with, as long as you get to fly to space. After your first flight, what you do—the mission—becomes very important. And if you get the opportunity to fly a third time, even the mission isn’t as important as whom you go flying with.” Back from his third mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in September, Forrester says he has to agree with that assessment: “It was the crew that made it worthwhile.” Still, all 5.7 million miles of this latest journey were bittersweet; it is probably the last time he will get to fly. Just six more NASA missions remain before the shuttle is retired.

Forrester joined the Johnson Space Center before the station’s first piece of hardware was carried into orbit and has played an ongoing role in its construction since his first mission in 2001, serving as lead robotics operator. Between stints in space, he helped the European Space Agency develop its lab modules for the station. The ISS is now about 90 percent complete.

“For me, living in space is fun and launching in space is fun, but completing the mission is the best part,” says Forrester, a retired Army colonel. “They asked us to go do something and we came back having accomplished all of our objectives.”

That sense of achievement is all the finer because he thought his chance had come and gone. In 1996, when he was selected for the astronaut corps, crews were already being named to begin the space station’s assembly. “I remember being so disappointed, thinking, ‘Wow, I missed it.’”

The 14-day mission in September marked the last time the shuttle would be used to swap crew members living at the orbiting lab. Taking a new astronaut aboard and escorting another home after a long habitation may sound fairly routine, but the transfer is a special reunion. “To go up there to the space station is pretty phenomenal to start with, and to open the hatch and see folks from your office that you’ve trained with and that you work with who have been living in space for a long period of time is pretty unique,” he adds.

On this final trip, Forrester also managed to stash a few nonessentials—unofficial but meaningful items to remind him of the distance he’s traveled. Among his gear: a plaque given to him by U.Va. engraved with the Honor Code.

Next: Nasa enters an awkward period known as “The Gap,” the longest hiatus since the space program began.

Also: An Alumni Astronaut Stat Sheet

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