Don Savage
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                       
September 26, 1991
(Phone:  202/453-8400)

Debra J. Rahn
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
(Phone:  202/453-8455)


RELEASE:  91-154

PAYLOAD SPECIALISTS FOR TETHERED SATELLITE MISSION NAMED


     Dr. Franco Malerba has been named Prime Payload Specialist 
and Dr. Umberto Guidoni has been named Backup Payload Specialist 
for the Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1) mission scheduled for 
flight aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis next Summer.  The 
Tethered Satellite System is a cooperative mission between NASA 
and Italy's space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).  As 
Prime Payload Specialist, Dr. Malerba will be the first Italian 
citizen to fly in space.

     Malerba was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1946, and obtained his 
doctorate in physics at the University of Genoa in 1974.  He 
joined ASI in 1989 after preliminary selection as an Italian 
candidate for TSS-1 Payload Specialist.  During the mission he 
will work with the mission specialists in operating the Tethered 
Satellite System aboard the Shuttle orbiter and carry out other 
TSS science investigations during the 7-day mission.

     Guidoni was born in Rome in 1954 and obtained his doctorate 
in physics at the University of Rome in 1978.  Since 1984 he has 
been involved with the TSS program as a co-investigator of one of 
the Italian experiments on the satellite, and in 1989 he joined 
ASI after preliminary selection as a candidate for TSS-1 Payload 
Specialist.  As backup, he will be ready to participate in the 
TSS-1 flight as Prime Payload Specialist if Malerba is unable to 
fulfill his duties.  During the mission he will serve in a key 
science team role at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, 
Huntsville, Ala..


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     The Tethered Satellite System consists of a satellite 
attached to the Shuttle orbiter by a conducting cable, or tether, 
which is wound on a motorized reel assembly in the Shuttle's 
payload bay.  The ASI is developing the satellite and NASA is 
developing the deployer mechanism.  Both are developing the 
scientific complement.  During the mission, the satellite will be 
reeled out on the tether to 12 miles above the Shuttle's orbit to 
verify the system design, demonstrate the capability to safely 
deploy, control and retrieve the satellite and to conduct science 
investigations.  Twelve scientific investigations have been 
selected for TSS-1, including studies of the electrodynamic 
processes taking place in the Earth's upper atmosphere and of the 
dynamic forces in a tethered satellite system.

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