Kathy Barnstorff
(757) 864-9886
RELEASE NO. 98-078
Photos and video b-roll of astronaut tour are
available
Future Astronauts Tour NASA Center
The newest space pioneers from five countries came to Hampton today
to tour the NASA Langley Research Center, the oldest civilian
aeronautics laboratory in the U.S.
NASA named 25 men and women to the 1998 astronaut
candidate class back in June. At least five have close ties
to Hampton Roads. One was a researcher in the
Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch at Langley. The
others were stationed in the area with the U.S. Navy at the time of
their selection.
This year's class includes eight pilot and 17 mission specialist
candidates. Of the 25 class members, 21 are male and four are
female. Training alongside the U.S. astronaut candidates are a
number of international payload specialists. All 31 are visiting
NASA field centers across the country.
The astronaut candidates are based at the Johnson Space Center
in Houston, Texas. They arrived there last month for a year of
training and evaluation. Following that the astronauts will receive
technical assignments within the Astronaut Office before receiving
a space flight assignment.
The
new U.S. class members are: Clayton C. Anderson; Lee J.
Archambault (Maj., USAF); Tracy E. Caldwell, Ph.D.; Gregory E.
Chamitoff, Ph.D.; Timothy J. Creamer (Maj., USA); Christopher J.
Ferguson (Lt. Cmdr., USN); Michael J. Foreman (Cmdr., USN); Michael
E. Fossum; Kenneth T. Ham (Lt. Cmdr., USN); Patricia C. Hilliard,
M.D.; Gregory C. Johnson; Gregory H. Johnson (Maj., USAF); Stanley
G. Love, Ph.D.; Leland D. Melvin; Barbara R. Morgan; William A.
Oefelein (Lt., USN); John D. Olivas, Ph.D., Nicholas J. M. Patrick,
Ph.D.; Alan G. Poindexter (Lt. Cmdr., USN); Garrett E. Reisman,
Ph.D.; Steven R. Swanson; Douglas H. Wheelock (Maj., USA); Sunita
L. Williams (Lt. Cmdr., USN); Neil W. Woodward III (Lt., USN); and
George D. Zamka (Maj., USMC).
Accompanying them are Paolo Nespoli (Italy), Marcos Pontes
(Brazil), Hans Schlegel (Germany), Roberto Vittori (Italy), Bjarni
Tryggvason (Canada) and Robert Thirsk (Canada).
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