Flight crew assignments

[nethegauner]

Does any one know about flight crew assignments beyond STS-115? There must have been a lot of shuffling lately. I guess the original pre-Columbia assigments up to STS-120 are no longer valid -- or are they?

[anik]

STS-121
CDR Steven Lindsey
PLT Mark Kelly
MS1 Michael Fossum
MS2 Lisa Nowak
MS3 Stephanie Wilson
MS4 Piers Sellers
MS5 [up] Thomas Reiter (Germany)

STS-115
CDR Brent Jett
PLT Christopher Ferguson
MS Joseph Tanner
MS Daniel Burbank
MS Steven MacLean (Canada)
MS Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper

STS-116
CDR Mark Polansky
PLT William Oefelein
MS Christer Fuglesang (Sweden)
MS Robert Curbeam
MS Joan Higginbotham
MS Nicholas Patrick
MS [up] TBD
MS [down] Thomas Reiter (Germany)

STS-117
CDR Frederick Sturckow
PLT Lee Archambault
MS Steven Swanson
MS Richard Mastracchio
MS Patrick Forrester
MS James Reilly

STS-118
CDR Scott Kelly
PLT Charles Hobaugh
MS Scott Parazynski
MS Dafydd Williams (Canada)
MS Barbara Morgan   
MS TBD

STS-119
CDR Pamela Melroy
PLT TBD
MS Michael Gernhardt
MS TBD
MS Tracy Caldwell
MS TBD

STS-120
CDR James Halsell
PLT Alan Poindexter
MS Michael Foreman
MS TBD
MS TBD
MS TBD

[nethegauner]

Thanks, anik. So Halsell is still set to command STS-120? Aha. And Melroy replaces Lindsey on STS-119? That was new to me.

[anik]

It is a very old plan (May 2005)... There might be changes since then...

[MKremer]

I'm a Pam Melroy fan. Good to see she's got a chance at commanding another mission.  

[rsp1202]

I didn't know about Melroy. What's the scoop on her, background-wise?

[MKremer]

rsp1202 - 4/11/2005  8:55 AM

I didn't know about Melroy. What's the scoop on her, background-wise?

Her bio is here:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/melroy.html

[rsp1202]

Thanks. She's got the chops. Hope Tony Blankley leaves her be.

[Flightstar]

Pam is another Eileen. Great people and great credits to our space program.

[Ben E]

Interesting, but I've found no official references to Melroy or Caldwell's assignments to STS-119. Unless I've missed something, there's nothing on either of their bios which refers to STS-119, nor any recent NASA press releases.

I also heard some time ago that Halsell, like Wilcutt, had chosen to step down from their pre-107 commands to give others a chance to fly. Also, I understand that Ken Bowersox (the Director of Flight Crew Ops) made an announcement a couple of months ago that more-or-less says four flights is the limit. Wilcutt, Parazynski and Gernhardt have already made four and Halsell has five under his belt.

A link, or press release, for the Melroy-Caldwell-Halsell assignments would be much appreciated, as would any comments about the others. Can anyone help?

Thanks

Ben

[FransonUK]

Question of less knowledge alert:

Are all the main NASA astronauts from a Air Force background?

[Ben E]

I heard recently that Dan Tani may no longer be in the running for Expedition 13. Can anyone verify or counter this?

If Tani is to be dropped, will the 'prime' Russian on Expedition 13 (Vinogradov? or Kondratiev?) be kept with another US astronaut, or swapped for the entire Expedition 12 backup crew of Mikhail Tyurin and Jeff Williams?

Ben

[Chris Bergin]

I'll try an e-mail to ISS PR, if no one comes back on this, Ben.

[anik]

Ben,

Current plan:

ISS Expedition 13 crews

Prime
CDR Pavel Vinogradov (launch on Soyuz TMA-8)
FE1/SO Jeffrey Williams (launch on Soyuz TMA-8)
FE2 Thomas Reiter (launch on Discovery [STS-121])

Backup
CDR Fyodor Yurchikhin
FE1/SO Michael Fincke
FE2 Leopold Eyharts

ISS Expedition 14 crews

Prime
CDR Michael Lopez-Alegria (launch on Soyuz TMA-9)
FE1 Mikhail Tyurin (launch on Soyuz TMA-9)
FE2/SO Clayton Anderson (launch on Endeavour [STS-116])

Backup
CDR TBD
FE1 Yury Malenchenko
FE2/SO Garrett Reisman

[Ben E]

Thanks anik.

Do you by any chance have a link to any of this. I'm aware that Lopez-Alegria, Reisman et al were all in 'generic' ISS expedition training, but hadn't heard of any official announcements.

Has anything leaked out as to why Tani was dropped?

Ben

[MKremer]

FransonUK - 5/11/2005  4:40 AM

Question of less knowledge alert:

Are all the main NASA astronauts from a Air Force background?

The Commander/Pilot positions have always (I believe) been limited to military pilots, and they've all been through test pilot training at some point during their military careers. I think the test pilot training is the main factor - you just don't get that type of training and experience with a commercial pilot background.

[anik]

Ben E - 5/11/2005  4:34 PM

Do you by any chance have a link to any of this

The part of this information is official... It was confirmed at session of Multilateral Crew Operations Panel (MCOP) on September 20, 2005 and published in Russian "Novosti kosmonavtiki" magazine (November 2005)... Other part of this information I have received from informal sources...

Ben E - 5/11/2005  4:34 PM

Has anything leaked out as to why Tani was dropped?

I heard that he had problems with studying of Russian language, but it may be a mistake...

[Rocket Guy]

I heard that he had problems with studying of Russian language, but it may be a mistake...

Yes, and also did not understand the Soyuz systems well enough.

[Ben E]

Seems a bit late in the day, after having trained as a prime and backup ISS crewmember AND flown a Shuttle-ISS mission, to have only just realised, with five months to go, that his language or Soyuz proficiency aren't up to scratch.

If it's true, it's almost as ludicrous as the Parazynski-Lawrence "too tall-too short" thing from 1997.

Ben

[rsp1202]

"Are all the main NASA astronauts from a Air Force background?"

John Young, Bob Crippen, Dick Truly, Rick Hauck were naval aviators (retired), to name a few. Of course, the Air Force guys would agree with "main."