Reservist selected for NASA crew

  • Published
  • By Susan Murphy and Sue Baker
  • Aeronautical Systems Center Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) --  A reserve officer assigned to the F-16 Fighting Falcon system program office here is one of four NASA astronauts named to fly on space shuttle mission STS-121. The mission, planned for November, will follow a shuttle mission scheduled for September.

Making his first flight into space will be Individual Mobilization Augmentee Lt. Col. Michael Fossum, assigned to the SPO for the past seven years as a flight test officer. He manages F-16 test programs, plans and concepts with the combined test force. During STS-121, he will serve as a mission specialist responsible for supporting flight operations during launch and re-entry, and performing two spacewalks while docked to the space station.

He is currently training with veteran astronaut Col. Steven Lindsey, who will command STS-121; Navy Cmdr. Mark Kelly, the pilot; and Marine Corps Lt. Col. Carlos Noriega, another mission specialist. Colonel Lindsey, a three-time shuttle astronaut, commanded the STS-104 mission in 2001. Commander Kelly has flown in space once, and Colonel Noriega twice.

“This is every 12-year-old’s dream job,” Colonel Fossum said. “I feel very fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to fly in space with the support of my wife and four children.”

Since leaving active duty, Colonel Fossum has worked at NASA for 11 years in the mission control center area as the “CAPCOM,” or capsule communicator, the voice link between the ground and space station crews. Selected as an astronaut in 1998, Colonel Fossum also worked on the space station re-design team and flight testing for the X-38 -- a prototype lifeboat for the space station.

The STS-121 crew will re-supply the International Space Station with equipment and consumables. They also will continue testing and development of new hardware and procedures designed to make space shuttle flight safer.

The crew recently began its pre-mission training together at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Initial activities focus on general procedural training on shuttle and station systems, preliminary spacewalk development and robotics training.