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.

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