Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                            March 17, 
1994
(Phone:  202/358-1778)

Kyle Herring
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone:  713/483-5111)


RELEASE:  94-47

PAYLOAD COMMANDER, MISSION SPECIALIST NAMED TO STS-73

   Dr. Kathryn C. Thornton, Ph.D., has been named Payload Commander 
of the second United States Microgravity Laboratory mission (USML-2) 
scheduled for launch in the fall of 1995 aboard Space Shuttle 
Columbia.  Also chosen as a mission specialist was Dr. Catherine G. 
"Cady" Coleman, Ph.D. (Captain, USAF).

   STS-73, presently scheduled to last 16 days, will become the 
longest mission in Space Shuttle program history and is designed to 
continue laying the foundation for microgravity research conducted 
over extended durations in space.

   USML-2 follows the first microgravity laboratory mission, STS-50, 
flown in June and July 1992.  The mission will continue the series 
of Shuttle flights dedicated to studying microgravity materials 
processing technology through research sponsored by government, 
industry and academia.  The mission will focus on materials science, 
biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of fluids and many 
other scientific experiments to be housed in the pressurized 
Spacelab module.

   For Thornton, STS-73 will be her fourth Shuttle flight.  She 
first flew aboard Discovery on a Department of Defense mission 
(STS-33) in November 1989.  Her second flight was in May 1992 on the 
maiden voyage of Endeavour (STS-49) to rescue and repair the 
Intelsat spacecraft and to examine assembly techniques for large 
space structures such as the international space station.  On that 
flight, Thornton evaluated assembly techniques during 1 of 4 
spacewalks.

   Thornton's most recent flight in December 1993 was aboard 
Endeavour as a member of the crew sent to carry out the first 
servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope (STS-61).  On that flight, 
she was 1 of 4 astronauts that conducted a record 5 spacewalks.


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   Coleman will be making her first flight on the Space Shuttle.  
She was selected to be an astronaut in 1992.  Coleman graduated from 
W. T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, Va., in 1978.  She earned a 
bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology in 1983 and a doctorate in polymer science 
and engineering from the University of Massachusetts in 1991.

   Since completion of astronaut training, Coleman has supported the 
Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch, assisting with flight 
software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration 
Laboratory.

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