page_title: John E. Blaha
section_title: Space flights
hierarchical_section_title: John E. Blaha / NASA / Space flights
caption_attribution_description: English: U. S. astronaut John E. Blaha and his wife, Brenda, hold hands in the crew quarters at KSC after he answered questions about his four-month stay aboard the Russian Mir space station. Blaha returned to Earth earlier today aboard the Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis when it touched down at 9:22:44 a.m. EST Jan. 22 on Runway 33 of KSCs Shuttle Landing Facility at the conclusion of the STS-81 mission. Blaha and the other five returning STS-81 crew members are spending the night here in the Operations and Checkout Building before returning to Johnson Space Center in Houston tomorrow morning. Blaha will undergo a two-week series of medical tests to help determine the physiological effects of his long-duration mission. (Photo Release Date: 1/22/97)
context_page_description: John Elmer Blaha is a retired United States Air Force colonel and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five space missions aboard the Space Shuttle and Mir.
  Blaha is married to the former Brenda I. Walters of St. Louis, Missouri. They have three grown children and five grandchildren.
context_section_description: STS-29 Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on March 13, 1989, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on March 18, 1989. During this successful mission the five-man crew aboard Shuttle Discovery deployed the East Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, and performed eight scientific/medical experiments.
  STS-33 Discovery (November 22–27, 1989). Launched at night, this five-day mission carried Department of Defense payloads and other secondary payloads. After 79 orbits of the Earth, this highly successful mission concluded with a hard surface landing on Runway 4 at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
  STS-43 Atlantis (August 2–11, 1991) launched from the Kennedy Space Center carrying a five-person crew. During the nine-day mission the crew deployed the West Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, and conducted 32 physical, material, and life science experiments that supported the development of the Extended Duration Orbiter and Space Station. After 142 orbits of the Earth, this very significant mission concluded with a landing on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
  STS-58 Columbia (October 18 to November 1, 1993) launched from the Kennedy Space Center carrying a seven-person crew. This record duration fourteen-day life science research mission has been recognized by NASA management as the most successful and efficient Spacelab flight that NASA has flown. The crew performed neurovestibular, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, metabolic, and musculoskeletal medical experiments on themselves and 48 rats, expanding our knowledge of human and animal physiology both on Earth and in space flight. In addition, the crew performed 16 engineering tests aboard the Orbiter Columbia and 20 Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project experiments. Landing was at Edwards Air Force Base on Runway 22.
  Blaha began Russian language training in August 1994 at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and commenced an intensive training program at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia in January 1995. He launched on STS-79 on September 16, 1996. After docking he transferred to the Mir Space Station. Assigned as a Board Engineer 2, he spent the following 4 months with the Mir 22 Cosmonaut crew conducting material science, fluid science, and life science research. Blaha returned to Earth aboard STS-81 on January 22, 1997.
  Blaha was not permitted to vote in the November 1996 election, because his mission on Mir began before ballots were finalized, and lasted beyond Election Day. In 1997, Texas amended its election statutes to permit voting from outer space, as a result of his predicament.
caption: Blaha with his wife, Brenda, after his return to Earth from Mir.
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