From NASANews@luna.osf.hq.nasa.govSun Jan 28 12:35:30 1996
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 16:51:14 -0500
From: NASA HQ Public Affairs Office <NASANews@luna.osf.hq.nasa.gov>
To: press-release-com@mercury.hq.nasa.gov
Subject: Astronauts Selected for STS-80, STS-83 Shuttle Missions

Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, DC           January 17, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1780)

Kyle Herring
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone:  713/483-5111)

RELEASE:  96-6

ASTRONAUTS SELECTED FOR STS-80, STS-83 SHUTTLE MISSIONS

     Kenneth D. Cockrell will command the third flight of the 
Wake Shield Facility (WSF) aboard Columbia (STS-80) scheduled 
for November 1996.  He will be joined on the flight by Pilot 
Kent V. Rominger (Commander, USN), and Mission Specialists 
Tamara E. Jernigan, Ph.D., Thomas David Jones, Ph.D. and Dr. 
Story Musgrave.

     In addition, Janice Voss, Ph.D., and Donald A. Thomas, 
Ph.D., have been named payload commander and mission 
specialist, respectively, for the long-duration microgravity 
science laboratory flight of Columbia (STS-83) scheduled for 
spring 1997.  The commander, pilot, flight engineer and 
payload specialists will be named at a later date.

     STS-80 will mark the third flight of the WSF that flew on 
STS-60 and STS-69 and the second flight of the Orbiting 
Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer (ORFEUS) 
satellite.  Both satellites will be deployed and retrieved 
during the mission.

     The saucer-shaped WSF is designed to fly free of the 
Shuttle, creating a super vacuum in its wake in which to grow 
thin film wafers for use in semiconductors and other high-tech 
electrical components.  The ORFEUS instruments are mounted on 
the reusable Shuttle Pallet Satellite and will study the 
origin and makeup of stars.

     Astronauts Jernigan and Jones will conduct a spacewalk 
during the mission to continue the flight test and evaluation 
of hardware for future spacewalks or extravehicular activity.

     Columbia's next flight after STS-80 will be a 16-day 
mission to conduct multiple experiments in materials science 
research in a pressurized laboratory mounted in the payload 
bay.  As payload commander, Voss will oversee the long-range 
planning and organization necessary for that mission.

     Cockrell, 45, will be making his third flight on the 
Shuttle.  He flew aboard Discovery on STS-56 in April 1993 and 
most recently on STS-69 aboard Endeavour in September 1995 -- 
the second flight of WSF.  A Captain in the Naval Reserve, 
Cockrell joined NASA in 1987 as an aerospace engineer, 
research pilot and instructor for the Aircraft Operations 
Division at Johnson Space Center.  He earned a master of 
science degree in aeronautical systems from the University of 
West Florida in 1974.  Cockrell was born in Austin, TX.

     Rominger, 39, completed his first Shuttle flight in 
October 1995 aboard Columbia on the STS-73 mission.  He came 
to NASA in 1992 after serving as an operations officer aboard 
the USS Nimitz in the Arabian Gulf during Desert Storm.  
Rominger was born in Del Norte, CO, and earned a master of 
science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval 
Postgraduate School in 1987.

     Jernigan, 36, has flown three times on the Shuttle:  STS-
40 on Columbia in June,1991, STS-52 on Columbia in 
October,1992, and STS-67 aboard Endeavour in March,1995.  She 
joined the Astronaut Corps in 1985 after serving as a research 
scientist at the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.  
Jernigan was born in Chattanooga, TN, and earned her doctorate 
in space physics and astronomy from Rice University in 1988.

     Jones, 40, flew on two Shuttle missions aboard Endeavour 
in April and October, 1994 (STS-59 and STS-68) to assist in 
the operation of the Space Radar Laboratory.  He joined NASA 
in 1990 after serving as a program management engineer at the 
Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Development and 
Engineering and as a senior scientist at Science Applications 
International Corp. in Washington, DC.  Prior to that, Jones 
was a B-52 pilot and aircraft commander.  He was born in 
Baltimore, MD, and earned a doctorate in planetary science 
from the University of Arizona in 1988.

     Musgrave, 60, has flown on five Shuttle missions.  He 
flew on Challenger's maiden voyage (STS-6) in April 1983 and 
participated in the first Shuttle spacewalk.  He then flew on 
STS-51F aboard Challenger in July/August, 1985, STS-33 on 
Discovery in November, 1989, and STS-44 aboard Atlantis in 
November, 1991.  Musgrave conducted three of the five 
spacewalks on his most recent flight -- the first Hubble Space 
Telescope (STS-61) servicing mission -- aboard Endeavour in 
December, 1993.  He earned his doctorate in medicine from 
Columbia University in1964.  Musgrave considers Lexington, KY, 
his hometown.

     Voss, 39, flew on STS-57 aboard Endeavour in June,1993 
and STS-63 aboard Discovery in February, 1995, the Shuttle 
mission that conducted a rendezvous within 37 feet of the 
Russian Space Station Mir.  Voss earned her doctorate in 
aeronautics/astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology in 1977.  She considers Rockford, IL, her hometown.

     Thomas, 40, will be making his third flight aboard the 
Shuttle.  He flew on a 15-day microgravity laboratory mission 
aboard Columbia in July, 1994 (STS-65) and most recently on 
STS-70 aboard Discovery in July, 1995 to deploy a Tracking and 
Data Relay Satellite.  Thomas earned a master of science and 
doctorate from Cornell University in 1980 and 1982, 
respectively.  He was born in Cleveland, OH.

                         - end -

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