Credit: NASA

PERSONAL DATA: Born April 11, 1955 in Crowborough, Sussex, United Kingdom. Married. Two children.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Cranbrook School, Cranbrook, Kent, United Kingdom, in 1973; received a bachelor of science degree in ecological science from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in 1976, and received a doctorate in biometeorology from Leeds University (United Kingdom) in 1981.

ORGANIZATIONS: American Geophysical Union (AGU), American Meteorology Society (AMS).

AWARDS: NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award in 1994; Arthur Fleming Award in 1995; Fellow of AGU in 1996; AMS Houghton Award in 1997; Fellow of AMS in 1997.

EXPERIENCE: Before joining the astronaut corps, Piers has worked on research into how the Earth's Biosphere and Atmosphere interact. His work involved computer modeling of the climate system, satellite remote sensing studies and field work utilizing aircraft, satellites and ground teams in places such as Kansas, Russia, Africa, Canada and Brazil.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in April 1996, Piers reported to the NASA Johnson Space Center in August 1996. He completed two years of training and evaluation and was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch, followed by service in the Astronaut Office Space Station Branch. During this time, Piers worked part time in Moscow as a technical liaison on ISS computer software. Piers completed his first flight on STS-112 logging over 252 hours in space, including almost 20 EVA hours in three spacewalks. He is assigned to the crew of STS-121, a return-to-flight test mission and assembly flight to the International Space Station.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-112 Atlantis (October 7-18, 2002) was an International Space Station assembly mission during which the crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition-5 in delivering and installing the S-One Truss (the third piece of the station's 11-piece Integrated Truss Structure). To outfit and activate the new component Sellers performed three spacewalks and logged a total of 19 hours and 41 minutes of EVA. The crew also transferred cargo between the two vehicles and used the shuttle's thruster jets during two maneuvers to raise the station's orbit. STS-112 was the first shuttle mission to use a camera on the External Tank, providing a live view of the launch to flight controllers and NASA TV viewers. The mission was accomplished in 170 orbits, traveling 4.5 million miles in 10 days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes.