NASA astronauts Lisa Nowak (Cmdr., U.S. Navy) and Stephanie Wilson are joining the crew of the second Space Shuttle Return to Flight mission (STS-121) planned for launch in 2005.
They join the other STS-121 crewmembers — Commander Steven Lindsey (Col., USAF), Pilot Mark Kelly (Cmdr., U.S. Navy), Mission Specialists Michael Fossum and Piers Sellers.
STS-121 will deliver supplies and research equipment to the International Space Station. It was added to the schedule as the next mission after Return to Flight, which is designated STS-114. The STS-121 crew will continue testing new flight procedures developed to increase the Shuttle’s safety following the Columbia accident on Feb. 1, 2003.
Selected as astronauts in 1996, this will be the first space flight for Nowak and Wilson. Both astronauts had previously been assigned to future Shuttle missions — Nowak on STS-118 and Wilson on STS-120. When STS-121 was added to the schedule, Nowak’s and Wilson’s training and experience provided an opportunity to move them up to an earlier flight.
Nowak has performed technical duties in the Astronaut Office Operations Planning Branch and served as a CAPCOM, or spacecraft communicator, in Mission Control. As CAPCOM, she served as the primary communicator with orbiting Space Station crews. Wilson has performed technical duties in the Astronaut Office Space Station Operations Branch and also has served as a CAPCOM in Mission Control. For biographical information for Nowak and Wilson, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/