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.. - more - - 2 - 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. - end -