Debra J. Rahn
Headquarters, Washington, DC                    February 12, 1999
(Phone:  202/358-1638)

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

RELEASE:  99-19

COSMONAUTS NAMED TO STS-96 AND STS-101

     Three Russian cosmonauts with experience and expertise in the
Russian Service Module and Zarya will join 1999 Space Shuttle
missions to visit the International Space Station.

     Valery Ivanovich Tokarev (Colonel, Russian Air Force) has
been named to the STS-96 mission, the first logistics flight to
the International Space Station.  This second mission to the space
station will bring supplies to be used by the next assembly
mission that will connect Russia's Service Module to the Zarya.
Tokarev replaces Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (Colonel, Russian Air
Force) who was previously assigned to this mission and is now
assigned to STS-101.

     Tokarev, a Russian cosmonaut and Air Force test pilot, has
been a commander of cosmonauts of aerospace systems at the Yuri A.
Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.  He is a graduate of the Yuri
A. Gagarin Air Force Academy and has a master's degree in State
Administration.  He will join STS-96 Commander Kent Rominger,
Pilot Rick Husband and crew members Ellen Ochoa, Tamara E.
Jernigan, Daniel T. Barry, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut
Julie Payette.

     Russian Cosmonauts Malenchenko and Boris W. Morukov (M.D.,
Ph.D.) have been assigned to STS-101, the second logistics flight
to the International Space Station.  Other crew members on STS-101
are Commander James D. Halsell Jr., Pilot Scott J. Horowitz, and
crew members Mary Ellen Weber, Edward Tsang Lu, and Jeffery N.
Williams.

     Malenchenko, a Russian Air Force pilot and Commander of an
aviation unit, flew in space for 126 days as commander of the 16th
basic expedition to Mir.  He is a graduate of N.Ye.Zhukov Military
Air Engineering Academy and the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation
Academy for Pilots.

     Morukov, a doctoral graduate in medicine from the 2nd Moscow
Medical Institute and doctoral graduate in space medicine from the
Institute for Biomedical Problems, has held a number of
significant positions at the Institute for Biomedical Problems
prior to attending basic space training at Gagarin Cosmonaut
Training Center and becoming a Cosmonaut-Researcher.

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