crew changed for future Shuttle mission

From: Jacques van Oene (oene0072_at_planet.nl)
Date: 07/15/04 

Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 19:20:18 +0200

Melissa Mathews
Headquarters, Washington July 15, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1272)

Doug Peterson
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

RELEASE: 04-223

CREW CHANGED FOR FUTURE SHUTTLE MISSION

     NASA has named Astronaut Piers J. Sellers to replace Carlos I. Noriega
as a mission specialist on STS-121, the second Space Shuttle mission to the
International Space Station once flights resume.

Noriega is being replaced due to a temporary medical condition that affects
his qualification for flight. Because of medical privacy considerations, no
other information on Noriega's condition will be made public. While he
awaits a possible future flight assignment, Noriega will be assigned to a
management role at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston.

Sellers will make his second trip on the Space Shuttle with the rest of the
STS-121 crew: Commander Steven W. Lindsey (Col., USAF), Pilot Mark E. Kelly
(Cmdr., U.S. Navy) and Mission Specialist Michael E. Fossum. STS-121
currently is assigned to Space Shuttle Atlantis and will carry supplies and
equipment to the International Space Station. During the flight, the crew
will test new Space Shuttle safety changes, procedures and equipment. The
current target window for the STS-121 mission begins in May 2005.

Sellers' first space flight was on STS-112, an International Space Station
assembly mission in 2002. Born and raised in England, Sellers earned a
doctorate in biometeorology from Leeds University. He joined the astronaut
corps in 1996.

Sellers previously had been assigned to STS-120. His replacement for that
mission will be named at a later date.

Full biographies of NASA astronauts can be found on the Internet at:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/

-end- 

--
---------------------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info

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