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National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058 AC 713 483-5111

Rh Jeffrey Carr Release No. 90-001

Astronaut Crew Named to International Microgravity Mission

USAF Col. Ronald J. Grabe has been named to command STS-42, a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in December, 1990. Stephen S. Oswald will be the pilot, and William F. Readdy will fly as a mission specialist. Mary L. Cleave, Ph.D., and Norman E. Thagard, Ph.D., were assigned to the flight as mission specialists in June, 1989.

Columbia's cargo bay will carry the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1) in which five NASA astronauts and two payload specialists will conduct a variety of studies and experiments in the fields of materials processing and life sciences.

The two payload specialists will be named in the near future.

Grabe, commanding his first Shuttle mission, will make his third flight in space. He flew previously as pilot on STS-51J in October, 1985, and on STS-30 in May, 1989. He was born June 13, 1945 in New York, NY.

Oswald will make his first space flight. He was born June 30, 1951, in Seattle, WA, but considers Bellingham, WA, to be his hometown. Readdy, also making his first flight, was born January 24, 1952, in Quonset Point, RI, but considers McLean, VA, to be his hometown.

Cleave will make her third space flight, having flown as mission specialist on STS 61-B in November, 1985, and on STS-30 in May, 1989. She was born February 5, 1947, in Southampton, NY.

Thagard will make his fourth space flight. He flew as mission specialist on STS-7 in June, 1983, on STS 51-B in April, 1985, and on STS-30 in May, 1989. Thagard was born July 3, 1943, in Marianna, FL, but considers Jacksonville, FL, to be his hometown.