Edward Tsang Lu was born July 1, 1963, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Considers Honolulu, Hawaii, and Webster, New York, to be his hometowns. Since obtaining his Ph.D., Dr. Lu has been a research physicist working in the fields of solar physics and astrophysics. He was a visiting scientist at the High Altitude Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, from 1989 until 1992. Selected by NASA in December 1994, Dr. Lu reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995, has completed a year of training and evaluation, and is qualified for assignment as a mission specialist. Among technical assignments held since then Dr. Lu has worked in the astronaut office computer support branch, and has served as lead astronaut for Space Station training issues.

Photo; Ed Lu signing his autograph on 19 June 1997 in Cologne, Germany.

Space flight experience: STS-84 Atlantis (May 15-24, 1997), was NASA’s sixth Shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. In completing this 9-day mission, Dr. Lu traveled 3.6 million miles in 144 orbits of the Earth logging a total of 221 hours and 20 minutes in space.

STS-106 Atlantis (September 8-20, 2000). During the 12-day mission, the crew successfully prepared the International Space Station for the arrival of the first permanent crew. The five astronauts and two cosmonauts delivered more than 6,600 pounds of supplies and installed batteries, power converters, life support, and exercise equipment on the Space Station. Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko performed a 6 hour and 14 minute space walk in order to connect power, data and communications cables to the newly arrived Zvezda Service Module and the Space Station. STS-106 orbited the Earth 185 times, and covered 4.9 million miles in 11 days, 19 hours, and 10 minutes.

The Artwork

This unofficial patch was created by the friends and family of Ed Lu to commemorate his mission to the International Space Station. This is in no way sanctioned by NASA and was done strictly as a fun item for Dr. Ed Lu