Bidspirit auction | Astronaut Thomas Jones signed NASA

Astronaut Thomas Jones signed NASA mission specialist commemorative cover. Missions: STS-59 STS-68 STS-80 STS-98. After a year of training following his selection by NASA in January 1990, Jones became an astronaut in July 1991. In 1994 he flew as a mission specialist on successive flights of Space Shuttle Endeavour. In April 1994, he ran science operations on the ”night shift” during STS-59, the first flight of the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-1). Then, in October 1994, he was the payload commander on the SRL-2 mission, STS-68. Jones next flew in late 1996 on Space Shuttle Columbia. STS-80 successfully deployed and retrieved 2 science satellites, ORFEUS/SPAS and the Wake Shield Facility. While helping set a Shuttle endurance record of nearly 18 days in orbit, Jones used Columbia's robot arm to release the Wake Shield satellite and later grapple it from orbit. His latest space flight was aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-98, in February 2001. Jones and his crew delivered the Destiny module to the International Space Station, (ISS) and he helped install the Lab in a series of three spacewalks lasting over 19 hours. The successful addition of Destiny gave the first Expedition Crew the largest space outpost in history and marked the start of onboard scientific research at the ISS. A veteran of four space flights, Jones has logged over 52 days (1,272 hours) in space.