WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

At NASAs Kennedy Space Center, the 2004 class of astronaut candidates tour the Vehicle Assembly Building. In front is Scott Thurston, NASA Vehicle manager for Atlantis. In the background are segments of Solid Rocket Boosters that will be stacked for the orbiter Atlantis for Return to Flight mission STS-121 in July. The class of 14 candidates includes three candidates from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency as well as three educator astronauts, who were school teachers chosen from thousands of applicants.