Wetherbee, James Donald (1952– )

US astronaut. He became the first US astronaut to command five space missions. His six space shuttle flights include two dockings with the Russian space station Mir when he was mission commander: on Discovery in February 1995 and on Atlantis in September 1997. He also commanded the March 2001 Discovery mission that delivered the second resident crew to the International Space Station, and the Endeavour flight in November 2002 to deliver the sixth resident crew. By 2004, he had logged more than 1,592 hours in space. Wetherbee was selected as an astronaut in 1984.