NASA astronaut and Payload Commander Michael Anderson will manage more than 80 experiments during a 16-day science mission on the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Anderson, along with Columbia Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon will work around-the-clock in shifts to conduct biology, physics, chemistry and Earth science experiments. They will work inside the Shuttle’s middeck and in a new Spacehab Research Double Module during the mission dedicated to scientific research.
The research, developed by NASA, the European Space Agency, commercial enterprises, and students could lead to a cleaner environment, better construction materials and the development of drug therapies that may assist with the prevention of breast, lung, colon and brain cancer.
In addition to managing the research, Anderson, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force and former instructor pilot, will perform experiments exploring heart and lung functions; fire suppression and soot processing; bone and muscle atrophy; kidney stone and viral infection prevention.
Selected by NASA in December 1994, Anderson flew on Space Transportation System (STS)-89 in 1998, the eighth Shuttle-Mir docking mission. He has logged more than 211 hours in space. Anderson attended Creighton University where he earned a Master of Science degree in physics.
The Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) is scheduled to launch Thursday, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. EST, from the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The precise launch time will be announced approximately 24 hours prior to liftoff.
Additional information about the STS-107 mission is
available on the Internet at:
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/
A biography and photo of Anderson is available at:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/anderson.html