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1993-05-03
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 2, 1991
Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher Dr. Eugene H.
Trinh has been selected as an astronaut to fly on the Space
Shuttle in June 1992, NASA has announced.
Trinh will serve as a payload specialist on the first
U.S. Microgravity Laboratory mission, to be flown on the shuttle
Columbia in mission STS-50. Part of NASA's Spacelab program, the
mission will study the behavior of materials, fluids and
biological processes in space.
During the shuttle mission Trinh will conduct several
investigations in the Drop Physics Module, an experiment package
managed by JPL. He will also operate the Surface Tension Driven
Convection Experiment, an instrument built at NASA's Lewis
Research Center.
The 40-year-old scientist previously was an alternate
payload specialist for Spacelab 3, a microgravity mission which
flew aboard the shuttle in 1985. As an alternate, he served as a
back-up to then-JPL researcher Dr. Taylor Wang, who flew as a
payload specialist.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Trinh grew up in Paris before
coming to the United States to attend college. He holds a
bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering-applied physics from
Columbia University, as well as a master's degree and doctorate
in applied physics from Yale University.
The holder of six patents, Trinh specializes in studies
involving physical acoustics, fluid dynamics and containerless
materials processing.
In addition to his research work on the ground, Trinh
has developed and operated a number of low-gravity experimental
apparatuses tested in NASA's KC-135 plane. Since 1983 he has
accumulated about 25 hours of time in a near-weightless state of
0.05 G.
Trinh and his wife, Yvette, reside in Culver City.
NASA announced Trinh's selection along with that of Dr.
Lawrence J. DeLucas of the University of Alabama at Birmingham,
who will work with him and the shuttle crew's mission specialists
in conducting more than 30 experiments during the 13-day mission.
The two newly named payload specialists will join
shuttle commander Richard N. Richards, pilot John H. Casper and
mission specialists Bonnie J. Dunbar, Kenneth D. Bowersox and
Carl J. Meade, previously announced for the crew.
JPL's Drop Physics Module was designed and built for
the laboratory by Loral Electro-optical Systems of Pasadena,
California. The U.S. Microgravity Laboratory series is managed
by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
#####
Note to Editors: A color photograph of Dr. Trinh is available
from the JPL Public Information Office.
5-2-91 FOD