Local astronaut touches back down after mission
FROM STAFF REPORTS Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

Poindexter

An astronaut with local roots is back safe on earth. NASA pilot/Navy Cmdr. Alan Poindexter is a Pensacola Junior College graduate and recently piloted his first mission in space aboard the STS- 122 mission.

Space shuttle Atlantis was the delivery vehicle of choice for Columbus, a 23-foot-long cylinder equipped to host experiments inside and outside the station. Astronauts will work inside the lab on some of the research, while other experiments operate independently to test theories of space science.

Cmdr. Steve Frick and Pilot Alan Poindexter steered Atlantis on a precise path to catch up with the space station on Feb. 9. Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love and European Space Agency astronauts Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts conducted inspections of the heat shield and made preparations for what would be a busy schedule of spacewalks, supply transfers and activation duties at the station. Three spacewalks took combined 22 hours and eight minutes. Construction and maintenance spacewalks during the International Space Station Program have totaled 104 EVAs for a combined time of 653 hours and 43 minutes. That is more than 27 days of spacewalk- ing.

Atlantis left the growing space station on Feb. 18 as the shuttle-sta- tion complex flew over New Zealand.

The shuttle crew members took their places again on the flight deck and lower level of the crew compartment for the entry and glide back to Kennedy on Feb. 20. Frick and Poindexter took a couple turns flying the ship through the Florida skies before Frick took over for the final approach to the Shuttle Landing Facility.

Although Poindexter is originally from Rockville, Md. and currently lives in Houston, the astronaut says he still considers the Pensacola Bay Area a second home. During his time here from 1980 to 1983 Poindexter met his wife, the former Lisa Pfeiffer, whose parents live in Gulf Breeze. The Pfeiffers traveled to Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Fla. to witness the launch first hand. The mission was Poindexter's first trip into space.