The 2012 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame has three new members. During an induction ceremony held at the Kennedy Space Center, Franklin Chang Díaz, Kevin Chilton and Charles Precourt joined an elite group of American space heroes. Chang Díaz flew on seven space shuttle flights and logged more than 16-hundred hours in space, Chilton was the pilot on STS-49, the first flight of space shuttle Endeavour and was the commander of STS-76 and Precourt flew on four space shuttle missions, as a mission specialist, a pilot and a commander. This is the eleventh group of space shuttle astronauts named to the Hall of Fame. Earlier inductees represent the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz programs. There are now 82 space explorers enshrined in the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Also, NASA commercial partner, SpaceX conducted a test firing of its Falcon 9 rocket on the pad at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The successful test clears the way for Falcon 9's upcoming demonstration flight to the ISS as part of NASA's plan for private companies to take over cargo delivery to the orbiting complex, the next ISS Crew, Expedition 31 Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin participated in traditional ceremonies at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia before departing for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to complete training for their launch to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft later this month and more!