March 4, 1997

Debra Rahn
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1639)

Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

Release: 97-33

Wilcutt To Lead Crew on Eighth Shuttle/Mir Docking Mission

Astronaut Terrence W. Wilcutt (Lt. Colonel, USMC) will command the eighth of nine planned missions to dock the Space Shuttle with Russia's Mir space station. STS-89 is targeted for a January 1998 launch on Discovery.

Three members of the 1995 Astronaut Class and a veteran space flyer round out the crew. Joining Wilcutt on the flight deck will be Pilot Joe Frank Edwards, Jr. (Cmdr., USN). Mission Specialists for the flight are Bonnie J. Dunbar, Ph.D., Michael P. Anderson (Major, USAF) and James F. Reilly, II, Ph.D.

Discovery also will carry Mission Specialist David Wolf, M.D, to Mir to begin a planned four-month stay. Wolf will replace Astronaut Wendy Lawrence, scheduled to arrive at Mir in September 1997 during the STS-86 mission aboard Atlantis. Lawrence will return to Earth on board Discovery as a member of the STS-89 crew.

STS-89 will mark Wilcutt's third space flight and his second visit to Mir. He was the pilot on STS-79, the fourth Shuttle/Mir flight which saw the first exchange of U.S. crew members on the Mir, leaving John Blaha and returning Shannon Lucid to Earth. Wilcutt's first flight was STS-68 in 1994.

Dunbar is a veteran astronaut with four space flights to her credit. She flew on STS-61A in 1985, STS-32 in 1990, STS-50 in 1992, and the first Shuttle/Mir docking mission, STS-71 in 1995. Edwards, Anderson and Reilly will be making their first trip to space during STS-89.

For complete biographical information on the STS-89 crew, or any astronaut, see the NASA Internet biography home page at URL:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/

text-only version of this release