From NASANews@luna.osf.hq.nasa.govSun Jan 28 12:34:54 1996
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 12:48:17 -0500
From: NASA HQ Public Affairs Office <NASANews@luna.osf.hq.nasa.gov>
To: press-release-com@mercury.hq.nasa.gov
Subject: Astronauts Foale, Voss Join Colleagues in Star City,
Russia

Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, DC                 January 16, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1778)

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

RELEASE:  96-5

ASTRONAUTS FOALE, VOSS JOIN COLLEAGUES IN STAR CITY, RUSSIA

     Three-time Space Shuttle veteran C. Michael Foale, 
Ph.D., has joined fellow astronauts training at the Gagarin 
Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, for stays on 
Russia's Mir space station.  Foale will be the fifth and 
final astronaut currently scheduled to stay on Mir as part of 
the first phase of the International Space Station program.  
James S. Voss (Colonel, USA) will serve as Foale's backup.

     Foale will train as the backup to Jerry M. Linenger, who 
will be the fourth astronaut to stay aboard Mir as part of 
the first phase leading toward development and construction 
of the International Space Station.  Foale then will be the 
prime crew member for a subsequent Mir stay targeted for late 1996.

     Shannon W. Lucid, the next astronaut to stay on Mir, 
will be launched on the third docking mission scheduled for 
March (STS-76).  She will return home following a five-month 
stay and be replaced by John E. Blaha on the STS-79 mission 
of Atlantis.  Blaha will spend about four months on Mir as a 
prime crew member for the Mir-22/23 crews.  The two veteran 
Shuttle astronauts have been training in Star City since last
February.

     Linenger will replace Blaha on Mir, launching aboard 
Atlantis on STS-81 for a five month mission with the Mir-
23/24 crews.  Foale will launch on STS-84 to replace Linenger 
and will spend about four months on the space station with 
the Mir 24/25 crews.  Voss will serve as a backup crew member 
and is not scheduled for a long-duration stay on Mir.

     "The current flight assignments reflect both prime and 
backup crew members for the docking missions to Mir," said 
Frank Culbertson, Acting Director, Phase I (Shuttle/Mir) 
Program.  "Each of these individuals is extremely talented 
and all are proven performers in space flight.  Both the U.S. 
and Russian programs will benefit from their experience and 
their expertise as we continue with these cooperative 
missions."

The flight assignments for the five astronauts are:

Flight     Prime          Back-up         To Mir       Return

Mir 21/22   Shannon Lucid   John Blaha     STS-76     STS-79
Mir 22/23   John Blaha      Jerry Linenger STS-79     STS-81
Mir 23/24   Jerry Linenger  Mike Foale     STS-81     STS-84
Mir 24/25   Mike Foale      Jim Voss       STS-84     STS-86

     Foale, 38, flew on STS-45 aboard Atlantis in 1992, 
Discovery's STS-56 mission in 1993 and most recently on the 
STS-63 mission in February which saw Discovery rendezvous 
with Mir, approaching to within 37 feet of the space station.  
He considers Cambridge, England, his hometown.  Foale 
completed his doctorate in laboratory astrophysics at 
Cambridge University in 1982.

     Voss, 46, flew on Altantis' STS-44 mission in 1991, STS-
53 aboard Discovery in 1992 and most recently on STS-69 
aboard Endeavour in September.  He considers Opelika, AL, his 
hometown.  Voss earned a bachelor of science degree in 
Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University in 1972 and a 
master of science degree in Aerospace Engineering Sciences 
from the University of Colorado in 1974.

                    -end-

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