NASA Assigns Crew for Final Solar Array Delivery to Station
WASHINGTON — NASA has assigned the space shuttle crew for Discovery’s STS-119 mission, targeted for launch in the fall of 2008. The flight will deliver the final pair of power- generating solar array wings and truss element to the International Space Station.
Air Force Col. Lee J. Archambault will command Discovery. Navy Cmdr. Dominic A. Antonelli will serve as the pilot. The mission specialists are Joseph Acaba, Richard R. Arnold II, John L. Phillips and Steven R. Swanson. Antonelli, Acaba and Arnold will be making their first spaceflight.
STS-119 will be the second spaceflight for Archambault and Swanson, who flew together on STS-117 in June. Phillips will be making his third spaceflight.
Discovery will carry the S6 truss segment to complete the 361-foot-long backbone of the space station. The truss includes the fourth pair of solar array wings and electronics that convert sunlight to power for the orbiting laboratory.
Archambault considers Bellwood, Ill., his hometown. He was the pilot for STS-117. He earned a bachelor’s and a master’s in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois-Urbana. He was selected as an astronaut in 1998.
Antonelli grew up in Indiana and North Carolina. He earned a bachelor’s and a master’s in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and the University of Washington, Seattle, respectively. He has been a CAPCOM, or capsule communicator, during launch and landing of space shuttle missions. He was selected as an astronaut in 2000.
Acaba was raised in Anaheim, Calif. He earned a bachelor’s and a master’s in geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Arizona, Tucson, respectively. He has middle school and high school math and science teaching experience. He was selected as an astronaut in 2004.
Arnold, raised in Bowie, Md., earned a bachelor’s degree in science and completed the teacher certification program at Frostburg State University, Md. He earned a master’s in marine, estuarine and environmental science from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has teaching experience at middle schools and high schools around the world. He served as a mission specialist for the 13th NASA Extreme Environments Mission Operations, known as NEEMO, in August 2007. He was selected as an astronaut in 2004.
Phillips considers Scottsdale, Ariz., his hometown. He has logged more than 190 days in space, including STS-100 and Expedition 11 on the space station. He earned a bachelor’s in mathematics and Russian from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., a master’s in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida, Pensacola, and a master’s and a doctorate in geophysics and space physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He retired as a Navy reservist captain in 2002. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996.
Swanson grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colo. He earned a bachelor’s in engineering physics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, a master’s in applied science in computer systems from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, and a doctorate in computer science from Texas A&M University, College Station. He joined NASA as a systems engineer for the shuttle training aircraft in 1987 and was selected as an astronaut in 1998.
Members of the STS-119 crew were originally announced in 2002, but as a result of changes in the flight manifest, new crew assignments were necessary.
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