Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, DC                 April 4, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1979)    


RELEASE: 96-64

TRAINEES SELECTED FOR SHUTTLE NEUROLAB MISSION

    NASA has selected Dr. Jay C. Buckey, Dr. Alexander W. 
Dunlap, 
Dr. Chiaki Mukai and Dr. James A. Pawelczyk to train as 
payload specialists 
for the 16-day Neurolab mission.

    Neurolab, dedicated to research on the nervous system 
and behavior, is scheduled for launch on the Space Shuttle 
Columbia in early 1998.  The mission is a joint venture of 
six space agencies and seven U.S. research agencies.  
Investigator teams from nine countries will conduct 31 
studies in the microgravity environment of space.

    Buckey, 39, earned a doctor of medicine degree from 
Cornell University Medical College, Ithaca, NY.  He is a 
resident and instructor in medicine at the Dartmouth-
Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH.  Buckey was an 
alternate payload specialist for STS-58, the second Spacelab 
life sciences mission.

    Dunlap, 35, received his doctor of veterinary medicine 
degree from the Louisiana State University School of 
Veterinary Medicine, Baton Rouge, LA.  He will receive a 
doctor of medicine degree at the University of Tennessee 
College of Medicine, Memphis, TN in May 1996.

    Mukai, 43, an astronaut with the National Space 
Development Agency of Japan, earned a doctor of medicine 
degree and a doctor of philosophy degree in physiology from 
the Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.  Mukai 
became the first Japanese woman to fly in space when she 
flew as a payload specialist on STS-65, the second 
International Microgravity Laboratory mission in 1994.

    Pawelczyk, 35, received a doctor of philosophy degree in 
biology from the University of North Texas, Denton, TX.  He 
is an assistant professor of applied physiology at Penn 
State University, University Park, PA.

    Although four candidates have been selected to train as 
payload specialists, only two will fly on the mission.  The 
remaining two will serve as backups, or alternates, and will 
be ready to serve on the mission crew if necessary.  The 
final selection will be made approximately a year before 
launch.


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