Doug Peterson 
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 
(Phone:  281/483-5111)                        October 26, 1998

Jennifer McCarter
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone:  202/358-1639)

RELEASE:  98-197

CREW MEMBERS NAMED FOR EARTH-MAPPING MISSION

     An international cadre of astronauts will support an 
ambitious mission to map the Earths surface when Endeavour 
launches on the STS-99 mission in September 1999.

     Commander Kevin Kregel; Pilot Dom Gorie; and Mission 
Specialists Janet Kavandi, Ph.D.; Janice Voss, Ph.D.; Mamoru 
Mohri, Ph.D. (NASDA); and Gerhard P. J. Thiele (ESA) have been 
named to the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM).  SRTM 
evolved from the two 1994 Space Radar Laboratory missions, which 
collected data on geology, geography and oceanography.

     During the mission, the crew will use specialized radar 
equipment and other electronics to map 80 percent of the Earths 
land mass, extending from the southern tip of Greenland to the 
northern edge of the Antarctic Circle.  Data targets will be 
spaced approximately every 90 feet and the resulting image should 
be accurate to within 30 feet of the height of the terrain.

     Kregel was selected as an astronaut in 1992.  He has logged 
more than 41 days in space during three missions: as pilot of STS-
70 in 1995 and STS-78 in 1996, and as commander of STS-87 last 
year. 

     After being selected as an astronaut in 1994, Gorie served as 
pilot earlier this year on STS-91, the ninth and final Shuttle-Mir 
mission of the U.S.-Russian Phase One Program.

     Kavandi was selected as an astronaut in 1994 and flew on 
board Discovery earlier this year with Gorie on STS-91.

     Voss will be making her fifth space flight on STS-99.  She 
has flown previously on STS-57 in 1993, STS-63 in 1995; and STS-83 
and STS-94 in 1997. 

     Mohri, of the Japanese Space Agency, is a member of the 1996 
astronaut class.  STS-99 will be his second space flight; he flew 
as a Payload Specialist on STS-47, the Spacelab-J mission, in 
1992.  

     Thiele, of the European Space Agency, is a member of the 1996 
astronaut class. This will be his first flight. 

     For additional information on the STS-99 crew, or any 
astronaut, see the NASA Internet biography home page at URL: 

                http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/


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