NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence and her backup David Wolf, pose after a news conference at the Russian cosmonauts training center in Star City, Wednesday, July 30, 1997. At 5-foot-3, Lawrence doesn't fit into the Orlan Russian space suit that crew members will wear during spacewalks to repair damage from last month's collision with a cargo ship. So NASA said Wolf will be sent to the hobbled Russian space station instead. AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

NASA regrets rejection of astronaut

Web posted August 1, 1997

Associated Press

MOSCOW - A NASA official expressed regret Thursday over the ``very, very difficult decision'' to bump U.S. astronaut Wendy Lawrence from the next Mir mission, but said it was the best move to ensure success.

The 5-foot-3 Lawrence is too small for the bulky Russian spacesuit she would have to wear for a Mir repair job, and has never had spacewalk training.

NASA decided late Wednesday to replace Ms. Lawrence with astronaut David Wolf, who is 5-foot-10 and received training for spacewalks.

``Wendy totally understands where we stand now,'' the U.S. head of the shuttle-Mir program, Frank Culbertson, told reporters at Russian Mission Control. ``She took it very calmly and professionally.''

The likelihood of an American having to don the spacesuit for an emergency spacewalk arose when Mir was damaged in a collision with a cargo ship on June 25 - after Ms. Lawrence had been chosen.

Russia has proposed several spacewalks to fix the damage.

``This was obviously a very, very difficult decision for a lot of people's plans and careers,'' Mr. Culbertson said. ``Our first preference would have been to see Wendy Lawrence qualify.''

Though Ms. Lawrence, 38, was otherwise well-fit for the mission, ``it became clear very quickly that she was not qualified to operate in the ... suit, just because of size,'' he said.

Ms. Lawrence, however, will fly aboard the Atlantic space shuttle when it takes Mr. Wolf, 40, to Mir. Mr. Culbertson said she was ``happy that at least she will get a space flight out of it.''

The Atlantis launch might be delayed for about 10 days, until Sept. 28, so Wolf can undergo spacewalk training at the Russian Star City center outside Moscow, Mr. Culbertson said.

Mr. Wolf will relieve NASA astronaut Michael Foale, who has been aboard Mir since May.

Two Russian cosmonauts flew Thursday to the Baikonur launch site in Kazakstan to prepare for Tuesday's launch to replace the Russians aboard the troubled spacecraft.

Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov will undergo medical tests and practice simulated spaceship-Mir docking, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.

The new Russian team plans to enter the station's airless Spektr module to reconnect electric power cables severed during the collision.

Around Sept. 3, crew members are expected to take a spacewalk to try to find the hole through which Spektr's oxygen leaked out.

``Only after that will we be able to decide how, through which means and with the participation of which cosmonauts or astronauts, repairs should be done,'' said the Russian mission chief, Valery Ryumin.

``At present, we only have theories about where that leakage point - or several points - could be located,'' he said.

Mr. Wolf is expected to make at least one spacewalk with Solovyov to retrieve U.S. scientific experiments on Mir's outer hull, including equipment for the study of solar rays, officials said.