RELEASE: 93-061 11 a.m. CDT
PAYLOAD COMMANDERS NAMED FOR FUTURE SHUTTLE MISSIONS
Astronauts Tamara E. Jernigan, Ph.D., Thomas David Jones, Ph.D., James S. Voss, and Ellen Ochoa, Ph.D., have been named payload commanders on upcoming Space Shuttle missions.
Jernigan, 34, who holds degrees in engineering science, space physics and astronomy, is Payload Commander on the STS-67 Astro-2 mission scheduled for late 1994 aboard Columbia. Astro-2 is a mission to study the far ultraviolet spectra of
faint astronomical objects using imaging and spectroscopy and to study the polarization of ultraviolet light coming from hot stars and galaxies.
Jernigan was a mission specialist on STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences-1 in June 1991 and on STS-52, a mission to deploy the Laser Geodynamic Satellite to measure the movement of the Earth's crust, to operate the U.S. Microgravity Payload-01 and
to test the Space Vision System developed by the Canadian Space Agency, in October 1992.
Jones, 38, is Payload Commander on the STS-68 Space Radar Laboratory-2
(SRL-2) mission scheduled for late 1994 aboard Atlantis. SRL-2 will take radar images of the Earth's surface for Earth system sciences studies including geology, geography, hydrology, oceanography, agronomy and botany.
Jones has a doctorate in planetary science and is a mission specialist on SRL-1 in the spring of 1994.
-more-Voss, 44, who has a master of science degree in aerospace engineering sciences and is a USA Lieutenant Colonel, is Payload Commander on the STS-69 SPACEHAB-04 and the Shuttle Pallet Satellite-III scheduled for early 1995 aboard Discovery. SPACEHAB is a complement of commercial experiments flown in a pressurized module in the Shuttle's cargo bay as a supplement to the middeck area of the orbiter. SPAS-III is a group of instruments which will measure the atmosphere around the orbiter and the background clutter in the Earth's atmosphere.
Voss was a Mission Specialist on STS-44 in November 1991, a mission to deploy a Defense Support Program satellite and to conduct Military Man in Space experiments, radiation monitoring experiments and numerous medical tests to support longer duration Shuttle flights. He also was a mission specialist on STS-53 in December 1992, a mission to deploy a classified Department of Defense payload DOD-1 and to conduct Military Man in Space and NASA experiments.
Ochoa, 35, is Payload Commander on the STS-66 Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-3 mission scheduled for the fall of 1994 aboard Endeavour. ATLAS-3 continues the series of Spacelab flights to study the energy of the Sun
during an 11-year solar cycle and to learn how changes in the Sun's irradiance affect the Earth's climate and environment.
Ochoa has master of science and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering. She was a Mission Specialist on STS-56 in April 1993, the ATLAS-2 mission.
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