Clayton Anderson launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on June 8, 2007, beginning a journey that would keep him in space for more than five months.

STS-117 launched from Kennedy Space Center on June 8, 2007, and carried the S3/S4 truss segment and a new set of solar arrays to the International Space Station. During the mission, the crew installed the new truss, retracted an existing solar array on the station’s Z1 truss, and deployed the new arrays, expanding the station’s power-generating capabilities.

For Anderson, however, arriving at the ISS was only the beginning. While Atlantis and the rest of the STS-117 crew returned to Earth, Anderson remained behind, having replaced astronaut Sunita Williams and officially joining Expedition 15.