Michael Braukus

Headquarters, Washington, D.C. August 6, 1990

(Phone: 202/453-1549)

Mark Hess
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
(Phone: 202/453-4164)

RELEASE: 90-108

NASA SELECTS MICROGRAVITY MISSION PAYLOAD SPECIALIST CANDIDATES

NASA today announced the selection of four candidates for

two payload specialist positions for Space Shuttle STS-53 mission
scheduled to carry the U. S. Microgravity Laboratory - 1 (USML-1)
in March 1992.

Selected for mission training were: Lawrence J. DeLucas,

O.D., Ph.D.; Joseph Prahl, Ph.D., Albert Sacco, Jr., Ph.D. and
Eugene H. Trinh, Ph.D. Two of the candidates will be selected
for flight in March 1991, and the others will serve as
alternates.

DeLucas, 40, earned a doctorate in optometry in 1981 and a

Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1982 from the University of Alabama at
Birmingham. He holds several positions at the University of
Alabama at Birmingham including: Associate Director, Center for
Macromolecular Crystallography; Professor, Department of
Optometry; and Adjunct Professor, Laboratory of Medical Genetics.
He resides in Birmingham.

Prahl earned a Ph.D. in engineering from Harvard University

in 1968. The 47-year-old Prahl is a professor of engineering at
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. He resides in East
Cleveland.

Sacco, 41, earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977. He is a professor
and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass. He resides in Holden,
Mass.

- more -
 - 2 -

Trinh, of Culver City, Calif., earned a Ph.D. degree in

applied physics from Yale in 1978. He is a scientist at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The 40-year-old Trinh
was previously an alternate payload specialist for the Spacelab 3
mission.

During the 13-day USML-1 mission, the payload specialists

will conduct more than 30 scientific and technological
investigations in materials, fluids and biological processes in
the spacelab environment.

- end -

NASA news releases and other NASA information is available

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Network for Information Exchange. For information on CompuServe,
call 1-800-848-8199 and ask for representative 176. For
information on GEnie, call 1-800-638-9636.

TO: MDS/PRA Group

1615 L Street, N.W. - Suite 100
Washington, D.C. 20036

DATE & TIME: AUGUST 6, 1990

ORDERED BY: Edward Campion

NASA Headquarters/LMD
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Washington, DC 20546 PHONE: 202/453-8400

PROJECT TITLE: Release No: 90-108

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