NASA has named 16 crewmembers for Space Shuttle missions
to deliver key structural hardware to the International Space
Station in 2003.
The orbiter missions are designated STS-115, to carry a six-
person crew, which is slated for launch in early 2003; and
STS-116, with a core crew of four, which will ferry three-
person, space station expedition crews to and from the
station in spring 2003.
STS-115, led by veteran shuttle commander Brent W. Jett Jr.
(Commander-Select, USN), will deliver and attach the second
port truss segment to the station. Jett commands a crew of
five including his pilot, Christopher J. Ferguson (Cmdr.,
USN), who will make his first flight into space. STS-115’s
veteran astronauts — Joseph R. Tanner, Daniel C. Burbank
(Cmdr., USCG) and Steven G. MacLean, Ph.D., (Canadian Space
Agency) — are joined by first-time flyer Heidemarie M.
Stefanyshyn-Piper (Cmdr., USN).
Jett is a second-time shuttle commander, having led the STS-
97 mission in 2000. He served as pilot on STS-81 in 1997 and
STS-72 in 1996. Tanner previously flew aboard STS-97 in 2000,
STS-82 in 1997 and STS-66 in 1994. Burbank served on STS-106
in 2000, while MacLean served as a Canadian payload
specialist in 1992 on STS-52. Ferguson is a member of the
1998 astronaut class and Stefanyshyn-Piper joined the
astronaut corps in 1996.
STS-116, commanded by veteran astronaut Terrence W. Wilcutt
(Col., USMC), will deliver the third port truss segment to
the station and attach it to the section delivered by STS-
115. Joining Wilcutt on the STS-116 core crew are first-time
pilot William A. Oefelein (Lt. Cmdr., USN), veteran mission
specialist Robert L. Curbeam (Cmdr., USN) and mission
specialist Christer Fuglesang, Ph.D., a Swedish astronaut
from the European Space Agency (ESA) on his first mission to
space.
Wilcutt commanded two previous shuttle missions, STS-106 in
2000 and STS-89 in 1998. He was pilot aboard STS-79 and STS-
68 in 1996 and 1994 respectively. Curbeam served as mission
specialist on STS-98 in 2001 and STS-85 in 1997. Oefelein is
a member of the 1998 astronaut candidate class and Fuglesang
entered the NASA astronaut corps in 1996 after becoming an
ESA astronaut in 1992.
A crew-rotation mission, STS-116 will carry Expedition Eight
Commander C. Michael Foale, Ph.D., and flight engineers
William S. McArthur (Col., USA, ret.) and Russian cosmonaut
Valery Tokarev (Col., Russian Air Force) to the station for
their long-duration stay. The mission will return Expedition
Seven crew members Yuri I. Malenchenko (Col., Russian Air
Force), Sergei Moschenko and Edward T. Lu, Ph.D., to Earth.
Information on the crews, their missions and ongoing space
station operations can be found on the NASA human space
flight Web site at:
