Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, DC                       October 6, 1995
(Phone:  202/358-1780)

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

RELEASE:  95-173

COMMANDER, PILOT ROUND OUT STS-78 CREW

     U.S. Air Force Colonel Terence T. "Tom" Henricks and 
Kevin R. Kregel have been named commander and pilot, respectively,
for a 16-day life and microgravity science mission aboard the Space 
Shuttle Columbia scheduled for launch in June 1996.

     Henricks and Kregel join five others named in May for 
the mission designated STS-78.  Mission Specialists will be 
Susan J. Helms (Lt. Col., USAF), Dr. Richard M. Linnehan, and
Dr. Charles E. Brady, Jr. (Commander, USN). Payload Specialists
will be Dr. Jean-Jacques Favier, of the French Atomic Energy
Commission (CEA) and astronaut of the French Space Agency (CNES),
and Dr. Robert Brent Thirsk, of the Canadian Space Agency.  Pedro
Duque of the European Space Agency and Dr. Luca Urbani of the
Italian Space Agency are alternates to Favier and Thirsk.

     Henricks, 43, flew on the STS-44 mission of Atlantis in 
November 1991 and STS-55 on Columbia in April 1993 before he 
commanded this year's STS-70 flight.  He earned a master's 
degree in public administration from Golden Gate University 
in 1982 after graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1974 
with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering.  He 
considers Woodville, OH, his hometown.

     Kregel, 39, will be making his second Shuttle flight 
following the STS-70 mission where he was pilot.  He 
received a bachelor of science degree in astronautical
engineering from the Air Force Academy in 1978 and a
master's degree in public administration from Troy State
University in 1988.  He considers Amityville, NY, his hometown.
                    
     STS-78's experiments will build on previous Space 
Shuttle Spacelab flights dedicated to life sciences and 
microgravity investigations.

                    - end -

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