INTERNATIONAL CANDIDATES JOIN 1996 ASTRONAUT CLASS

Mon, 12 Aug 1996 14:11:45 -0400
Source: (NASA HQ Public Affairs Office)
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 14:11:45 -0400
From: NASANews@luna.osf.hq.nasa.gov (NASA HQ Public Affairs Office)
To: press-release-com@venus.hq.nasa.gov
Subject: International Candidates Join 1996 Astronaut Class

Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, DC August 12, 1996
(Phone: 202/358-1778)

Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 713/483-5111)

RELEASE: 96-162

INTERNATIONAL CANDIDATES JOIN 1996 ASTRONAUT CLASS

A cadre of international astronaut candidates has arrived at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, to begin training as members of the 1996 Astronaut Class.

The international candidates, representing the Canadian, Japanese, Italian, French, German and European Space Agencies, will train as mission specialists for future Space Shuttle and International Space Station flight assignments.

"The Class of 1996 continues our international cooperation in space as we move forward into the era of the International Space Station," said Robert L. "Hoot" Gibson, deputy director of Flight Crew Operations. "We welcome the entire class. They have a very exciting time ahead of them."

The international candidates are: Steve MacLean and Julie Payette, Canadian Space Agency; Pedro Duque and Christer Fuglesang, European Space Agency; Mamoru Mohri and Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Space Agency, NASDA; Philippe Perrin of the French Space Agency, CNES; Gerhard Thiele of the German Space Agency, DARA; and Umberto Guidoni of the Italian Space Agency, ASI. Brief biographical information on the international candidates follows.

For complete biographical information on the astronaut corps, see the NASA Internet biography home page at URL:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY

NAME: Steve MacLean

BIRTHPLACE/DATE: December 14, 1954 - Ottawa, Ontario

EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science, Honours Physics, 1977 and Doctorate in Physics, 1983 -- York University, Toronto, Ontario.

CURRENT POSITION: Acting Director-General, Canadian Astronaut Program. Selected in December 1983 as an astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency. Flew as a Payload Specialist on Shuttle mission STS-52 in October - November 1992.

NAME: Julie Payette

BIRTHPLACE/DATE: October 20, 1963 - Montreal, Quebec

EDUCATION: Bachelor of Engineering, McGill University, 1986; Masters of Applied Science, University of Toronto, 1990. International Baccalaureate, United World International College of the Atlantic, South Wales, UK, 1982.

CURRENT POSITION: Selected in June 1992 as an astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency. Currently she is the Project Manager of human-computer interaction research for the Canadian astronaut program.

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY

NAME: Pedro Duque

BIRTHDATE/PLACE: March 14, 1963 - Madrid, Spain

EDUCATION: Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros Aeronauticos, Universidad Politecnica, Madrid 1986

CURRENT POSITION: Selected in May 1992 to join the Astronaut Corps, European Space Agency. Duque has trained in Star City, Russia as a backup crew member for ESA's Euromir 94 mission and served as primary Crew Interface Coordinator for that mission. He was the Alternate Payload Specialist for Shuttle mission STS-78 in June-July, 1996.

NAME: Christer Fuglesang, European Space Agency

BIRTHDATE/PLACE: March 18, 1957 - Stockholm, Sweden

EDUCATION: Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Masters of Science degree in Engineering Physics, 1981, University of Stockholm; Doctorate in Experimental Particle Physics, 1987; and Docent in Particle Physics, 1991.

CURRENT POSITION: Selected in May 1992 to join the Astronaut Corps, European Space Agency. Fuglesang has trained in Star City, Russia as a backup crew member for ESA's Euromir 95 mission and served as primary Crew Interface Coordinator for that mission.

NASDA

NAME: Mamoru Mohri

BIRTHDATE/PLACE: January 28, 1948 - Hokkaido, Japan

EDUCATION: Master of Science, Physical Science, Hokkaido University, 1972; Doctorate in Physical Science rom South Australia State Flinders University, 1976.

CURRENT POSITION: Chief, Astronaut Office. Mohri flew previously as a Payload Specialist on Shuttle Mission STS-47 in September 1992.

NAME: Soichi Noguchi

BIRTHDATE/PLACE: April 15, 1965 - Yokohama, Japan

EDUCATION: Master of Aeronautical Engineering, 1991 and Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering, 1989, University of Tokyo, Japan.

CURRENT POSITION: Engineer, Aerodynamics Group, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, Co., Ltd.

CNES

NAME: Philippe Perrin, Lt. Colonel, French Air Force

BIRTHDATE/PLACE: January 6, 1963, Meknes, Morocco

EDUCATION: Degree as Ingenieur Polytechnicien from the Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France, 1985.

CURRENT POSITION: Chief Pilot of the Bretigny Test Centre, in charge of the development and evaluation of the Mirage 2000-5 aircraft for the French Air Force. Selected as an astronaut candidate for CNES in 1990.

DARA

NAME: Gerhard P. J. Thiele

BIRTHDATE/PLACE: September 2, 1953, Heidenhelm/Brenz, Germany

EDUCATION: Studied physics at Ludwig-Maximilians Universitat, Munich and Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat in Heidelberg, 1976-1982. Doctoral thesis at the Institute for Environmental Physics of Heidelberg Universitat, 1982-1985.

CURRENT POSITION: Astronaut, DARA.

ASI

NAME: Umberto Guidoni

BIRTHDATE/PLACE: August 18, 1954, Rome, Italy

EDUCATION: Ph.D in Astrophysics, Bachelor of Science in Physics, University of Rome, 1978.

CURRENT POSITION: Astronaut, Italian Space Agency. Guidoni previously flew as a Payload Specialist on Shuttle Mission STS-75, Tethered Satellite, in February 1996.

-end-

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