NASA has assigned the space shuttle crew for Discovery's STS-119 mission, targeted for launch in the fall of 2008. The flight will deliver the final pair of power- generating solar array wings and truss element to the International Space Station.
Air Force Col. Lee J. Archambault will command Discovery. Navy Cmdr. Dominic A. Antonelli will serve as the pilot. The mission specialists are Joseph Acaba, Richard R. Arnold II, John L. Phillips and Steven R. Swanson. Antonelli, Acaba and Arnold will be making their first spaceflight.
STS-119 will be the second spaceflight for Archambault and Swanson, who flew together on STS-117 in June. Phillips will be making his third spaceflight.
Discovery will carry the S6 truss segment to complete the 361-foot-long backbone of the space station. The truss includes the fourth pair of solar array wings and electronics that convert sunlight to power for the orbiting laboratory.
This mission will also deliver JAXA* astronaut Koichi Wakata (making his second spaceflight) to the space station as part of the Expedition 18 crew, and will ferry Sandra Magnus back to Earth.
This will be the 36th spaceflight for Discovery, which first flew on 30 Aug 1984 as mission STS-41-D.
* Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
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