Mark Hess
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                                                       
April 19, 1991
(Phone:  202/453-4164)

Barbara Schwartz
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone:  713/483-5111)

RELEASE:  91-57

SHUTTLE CREW ASSIGNMENTS ANNOUNCED

     David C. Hilmer, Lt. Col., USMC, has been named mission 
specialist on STS-42, the International Microgravity 
Laboratory  (IML-01) flight and Jerry L. Ross, Lt. Col., USAF, 
has been named Payload Commander for the Spacelab D-2 mission, 
STS-55. 

    IML-01 launch is scheduled for February 1992 and Hilmers 
will perform the duties previously assigned to the late Manley 
L. "Sonny" Carter.  "It is with regret that I have to make 
this selection under these circumstances.  We all miss Sonny 
Carter.  He was a special person and friend who can never be 
replaced," Director of Flight Crew Operations Donald R. Puddy 
said. 

    Hilmers served as a mission specialist on three Shuttle 
flights, two of which were Department of Defense missions, 
STS- 51J and STS-36.  He was one of five crew members on 
STS-26, the first flight after the Challenger accident, on 
which the crew  successfully deployed NASA's Tracking and Data 
Relay Satellite. 

    STS-55, the second German Spacelab flight, is scheduled 
for February 1993.  As Payload Commander, Ross will provide 
long-range leadership in the development and planning of 
payload crew science and training activities. 

    Ross has flown as a mission specialist on three Shuttle 
missions.  On STS-61B, the crew deployed three communications 
satellites and Ross performed two 6-hour spacewalks to test  
Space Station construction techniques.  Mission STS-27 was a 
Department of Defense flight.  During STS-37, the Gamma Ray 
Observatory mission, Ross performed an unscheduled spacewalk 
to assist in the successful deployment of the observatory and 
a planned spacewalk to test potential maneuvering devices to 
help crew members move easily about the outside structure of 
Space Station Freedom.  

                            -end-