3/17/94:  PAYLOAD COMMANDER, MISSION SPECIALIST NAMED TO STS-73

Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.          March 17, 1994

Kyle Herring
Johnson Space Center, Houston

RELEASE:  94-47

	Dr.  Kathryn C. Thornton, Ph.D., has been named Payload Commander of
the second United States Microgravity Laboratory mission (USML-2) scheduled for
launch in the fall of 1995 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. Also chosen as a
mission specialist was Dr. Catherine G. "Cady" Coleman, Ph.D. (Captain, USAF).

	STS-73, presently scheduled to last 16 days, will become the longest
mission in Space Shuttle program history and is designed to continue laying the
foundation for microgravity research conducted over extended durations in
space.

	USML-2 follows the first microgravity laboratory mission, STS-50, flown
in June and July 1992.  The mission will continue the series of Shuttle flights
dedicated to studying microgravity materials processing technology through
research sponsored by government, industry and academia.  The mission will
focus on materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of
fluids and many other scientific experiments to be housed in the pressurized
Spacelab module.

	For Thornton, STS-73 will be her fourth Shuttle flight.  She first flew
aboard Discovery on a Department of Defense mission (STS-33) in November 1989.
Her second flight was in May 1992 on the maiden voyage of Endeavour (STS-49) to
rescue and repair the Intelsat spacecraft and to examine assembly techniques
for large space structures such as the international space station.  On that
flight, Thornton evaluated assembly techniques during 1 of 4 spacewalks.

	Thornton's most recent flight in December 1993 was aboard Endeavour as
a member of the crew sent to carry out the first servicing of the Hubble Space
Telescope (STS-61).  On that flight, she was 1 of 4 astronauts that conducted a
record 5 spacewalks.

	Coleman will be making her first flight on the Space Shuttle. She was
selected to be an astronaut in 1992.  Coleman graduated from W. T. Woodson High
School in Fairfax, Va., in 1978.  She earned a bachelor of science degree in
chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983 and a
doctorate in polymer science and engineering from the University of
Massachusetts in 1991.

	Since completion of astronaut training, Coleman has supported the
Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch, assisting with flight software
verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory.

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