Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, DC                       April 28, 1997
(Phone:  202/358-1979)

RELEASE:  97-82

PAYLOAD SPECIALISTS SELECTED FOR FUTURE SHUTTLE MISSION

     NASA today announced the selection of Dr. Jay C. Buckey and 
Dr. James A. Pawelczyk as the primary payload specialists for the 
1998 Space Shuttle Neurolab mission.

     NASA also named Dr. Alexander W. Dunlap, University of 
Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, and Dr. Chiaki Mukai, an 
astronaut with the National Space Development Agency of Japan, to 
serve as alternates.  As an alternate, Dunlap and Mukai will 
undergo the same training as Buckey and Pawelczyk and will be 
ready to serve on the mission crew if necessary.

     Neurolab, a 16-day mission 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.  The goals of Neurolab are to 
study basic research questions and to increase the understanding 
of the mechanisms responsible for neurological and behavioral 
changes in space.

     Other agencies participating in this mission include six 
institutes of the National Institutes of Health, the National 
Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research, as well as 
the space agencies of Canada, France, Germany, and Japan, and the 
European Space Agency.

     Dr. Buckey, 39, earned a doctor of medicine degree from 
Cornell University Medical College, Ithaca, NY.  He is an 
associate professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, 
Hanover, NH.  Buckey was an alternate payload specialist for STS-
58, the second Spacelab Life Sciences mission.

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

     The other members of the STS-90 crew are: 
               Commander Richard A. Seafoss (Lt. Col., USAF),
               Pilot Scott D. Altman (Lt. Cdr.,USN)
               Mission Specialist Kathryn "Kay" Hire
               Mission Specialist Richard M. Linnehan
               Mission Specialist Dafydd "Dave" Rhys Williams, 
M.D., (Canadian Space  Agency)
                                 -end-