The New Jersey Crew

Four of the seven crewmembers slated to fly aboard shuttle Discovery later this month grew up in New Jersey/New York.

Meet Mark Kelly, the commander of the next shuttle crew. He was born in Orange, N.J., but considers West Orange, N.J. his hometown. I guess you have to live there to really appreciate the difference.

Meet Kelly’s No. 1, pilot Ken Ham. He’s from Plainfield, N.J. and graduated high school in Clark, N.J.

Then there’s the flight engineer Ron Garan, a pilot as well, who hails from Yonkers, N.Y.

Even Akihiko Hoshide, the Tokyo-born astronaut, who will oversee the installation of Japan’s Kibo laboratory complex into the International Space Station, spent part of his childhood in New Jersey.

What’s going on?

“We’ve got a large New York/New Jersey contingent on this crew,” said Kelly during the crew’s prelaunch press conference in Houston on Thursday.

Later, in an informal chat, Kelly says he didn’t plan it this way, but he sure doesn’t mind it.

As for the rest of the crew, well if they’re not used to the tough-talking, sharp-witted New Yorkers by now, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Returning home with them on the shuttle will be space station flight engineer Garrett Reisman, from …Morristown and Parsippany, N.J.

Comments

[David Stever]

Thank god the blond one is from Minnesota, to balance things out. Disclosure: I live in Minnesota, but I'm from Massachusetts. ...but I've visited New Jersey.