NASA Assigns Crew for Final Launch on Need Shuttle Mission

WASHINGTON -- NASA announced the four astronauts who will make up the crew of STS-335, the rescue mission that would fly only if needed to
bring home the members of space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission,
currently the final scheduled shuttle flight.

Chris Ferguson, a retired U.S. Navy captain and veteran of two
previous shuttle missions, would command the flight. Astronaut and
U.S. Marine Col. Doug Hurley would serve as pilot, and astronauts
Sandy Magnus and retired U.S. Air Force Col. Rex Walheim would be the mission specialists.

Based on recommendations made after the loss of space shuttle Columbia
in February 2003, NASA has trained a launch on need crew to be ready
to fly in the event of irreparable damage to a shuttle while in
orbit. Typically, the next crew to fly serves as the rescue crew for
the current mission. The STS-335 crew will prepare for a potential
rescue mission and preserve flexibility if another shuttle flight is
added to the launch manifest.

"These astronauts will begin training immediately as a rescue crew as
well as in the baseline requirements that would be needed to fly an
additional shuttle flight," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate
administrator for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate in
Washington. "The normal training template for a shuttle crew is about
one year prior to launch, so we need to begin training now in order
to maintain the flexibility of flying a rescue mission if needed, or
alter course and fly an additional shuttle mission if that decision is made."

If required, the STS-335 rescue mission would launch on shuttle
Atlantis in June 2011 to bring home the STS-134 crew from the
International Space Station. STS-134 currently is scheduled to lift
off on Feb. 26, 2011, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If
converted to an additional shuttle flight, STS-335 would be
redesignated STS-135 and targeted to launch in June 2011.

Ferguson, who was born in Philadelphia, flew on two prior shuttle
missions, STS-115 in 2006 and STS-126 in 2008. Hurley, who was born
in Endicott, N.Y., but considers Apalachin, N.Y., his hometown,
served as the pilot on STS-127 in 2009. Magnus, of Belleville, Ill.,
flew on STS-112 in 2002 and launched to the space station in 2008 on
STS-126, where she served four and a half months as a flight engineer
and science officer on Expedition 18 before returning to Earth on
STS-119 in 2009. Walheim was born in Redwood City, Calif., and
considers San Carlos, Calif., his hometown. He flew on STS-110 in
2002 and STS-122 in 2008.

For more information on the Space Shuttle Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For complete biographies of the four astronauts, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios

Source: NASA