CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - John Glenn is the most celebrated astronaut on the U.S. space shuttle Discovery but he is just one of a crew of six men and one woman, including four other Americans, a Spaniard and a Japanese.

Here are brief profiles.

Commander: Curtis Brown -- ultimately responsible for the mission's safety and success. A 42-year-old United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Brown will be making his fifth space flight. The North Carolina native was a USAF instructor and test pilot before being selected for the astronaut program in 1987.

Pilot: Steven Lindsey, also a USAF Lieutenant Colonel, the 38-year-old Californian has flown in space once before. In a varied air force career he has served as combat-ready pilot, instructor and weapons and systems test pilot.

Mission Specialist 1: Stephen Robinson, also serving as payload commander. Earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University while working as a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center. Selected for the astronaut program in 1994, flew once before as a mission specialist. The Californian turned 43 on Monday.

Mission Specialist 2: Scott Parazynski. Will also serve as flight engineer. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1961, he attended high school in Beirut and Tehran. Earned a medical degree from Stanford Medical School. Has been on two previous missions as specialist, including the rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir in September-October 1997. He still works part time in a Houston hospital emergency room to keep up his practical skills.

Mission Specialist 3: Pedro Duque. Making his first space flight, the Madrid, Spain, native was selected to join the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1992. Holder of a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Madrid Polytechnic University. He has trained and worked closely with Russian space programs and qualified as a Research Astronaut for the Soyuz and Mir programm. Age 35.

Payload Specialist 1: Chiaki Mukai. Became the first Japanese woman in space when she flew on the STS-65 in 1994. The 46-year-old cardiovascular surgeon holds a medical degree from Tokyo's Keio University. Selected by the National Space Development Agency of Japan as a payload specialist candidate in 1985, she also becomes the first Japanese to make a second space flight.

Payload Specialist 2: John Glenn, 77, America's first man in orbit in 1962 aboard the Mercury Friendship 7 capsule. A Marine Corp fighter pilot who saw service in World War II and Korea, he was a Democrat senator for Ohio for 24 years before retiring from Congress this month.