It was uncertain right up until launch day whether US astronaut David Wolf, KC5VPF, would get to replace his colleague Mike Foale, KB5UAC, aboard the Russian Mir space station. Under intense political pressure to consider discontinuing the presence of US astronauts aboard the ailing and aging space station, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin gave the okay Thursday, September 25, for Wolf's Mir stay only hours before the shuttle Atlantis was launched from Cape Canaveral on mission STS-86 and a rendezvous with Mir. At least for another four months, Wolf will continue the permanent US presence on the station that began in 1996 with Shannon Lucid.

Goldin cited separate scientific reviews of the situation aboard Mir in his decision to deliver Wolf to Mir as originally planned. An independent task force, chaired by Lt Gen Thomas P. Stafford, USAF (Ret.), a former Gemini and Apollo astronaut, reaffirmed NASA's internal reviews to proceed with Thursday's shuttle mission to replace Foale with Wolf on Mir. Astronaut Col Fred Gregory, USAF (Ret.), Associate Administrator of the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, conducted another NASA review. In that review, Gregory gave his certification of the shuttle-Mir flight safety as one of the key NASA management approvals prior to a shuttle mission.

"This careful and thorough review of the shuttle-Mir mission analyzed risk, readiness and, foremost, safety," Goldin said. "We move forward not only because it is safe, but for the important scientific and human experience we can gain only from Mir." Goldin said that as NASA looks toward next June's launch of the first element of the International Space Station, "nothing can beat the hands-on, real-time training aboard Mir."

Early this year, a fire broke out aboard Mir. The spacecraft also has had various mechanical problems, including malfunctions of its oxygen-generating and carbon dioxide scrubbing systems. In late June, a collision with an unmanned Progress supply rocket during a docking maneuver damaged the spacecraft's Spektr module and disrupted scientific research. Among subsequent problems, Mir suffered from repeated computer system failures, one as recently as this week. The Atlantis carried a new computer to Mir.

Wolf, 41, is both an electrical engineer and a medical doctor. A native of Indianapolis, Wolf is single. He has been an astronaut since 1990 and served as a mission specialist aboard the shuttle Columbia in late 1993.

Meanwhile, astronaut Andy Thomas, who is scheduled to replace Wolf aboard Mir in January, has successfully passed his Technician examination in anticipation of spending several months aboard the Russian space station. He received his new call sign, KD5CHF, this week and already has come up with the phonetics "Cosmonauts having fun." Thomas will take the place of Wendy Lawrence, KC5KII, in the Mir rotation. Lawrence originally was supposed to replace Foale on the current shuttle mission. In the wake of this year's problems aboard the space station, however, NASA determined it would prefer to have an astronaut aboard Mir who could fit the Russian space suits--in case an astronaut needed to participate in a space walk as Foale had to do during his Mir stay. Lawrence is too small to wear the Russian space gear, and that same thinking could have been behind swapping Thomas for Lawrence on the subsequent Mir posting.

Lawrence is aboard the STS-86 shuttle Atlantis mission that will deliver Wolf to Mir and return Foale to Earth from his four-month stay aboard the space outpost. The Atlantis crew includes Commander Jim Wetherbee; Pilot Mike Bloomfield; and Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski, KC5RSY; Jean-Loup Chretien; and Vladimir Titov, KD5AOS, in addition to Wolf and Lawrence.

Thomas, a native of Australia, is 45 and single. An astronaut since 1993, he holds a PhD in mechanical engineering and flew his first flight in space on Endeavour in May, 1996.--thanks to NASA

HAM RADIO NOW AN "OFFICIAL" ISS PAYLOAD

Based on our initial request to be manifested onboard, the ISS Payloads Office is listing Amateur Radio as being onboard with (1) a transportable station (H-Ts), (2) a site on the EXPRESS pallet, and (3) a permanent station on the Habitation Module. Amateur Radio soon will be assigned a Payload Integration Manager (PIM) for each of these.