For Release: Aug. 26, 1997

Dave Drachlis
Office of Media Services
(205) 544-0034
dave.drachlis@msfc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 97-225

MARSHALL ENGINEER, HEADING TO MOSCOW AS LEADER OF SPACE MISSION OPERATIONS, SAYS MIR TEACHES 'VALUABLE LESSONS'

Patricia Moore, a Marshall Space Flight Center engineer soon to become NASA's operations lead in Russia, views joint U.S.-Russian efforts to repair the Russian Mir space station as a "valuable lesson -- like a test-bed for the United States on how to keep a space station operational."

In September, Moore will join several other Marshall Center employees assigned to Moscow to support the two nations' joint space project. This program is managed by the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

As the international space partners prepare for next year's launch of the first elements of the International Space Station, Moore said repairs to the damaged Spektr module "are teaching us valuable lessons. No matter how old your space station is, things are going to happen which will require repair. We can learn from the Russian efforts to repair Mir.

"And each of these lessons learned will prove invaluable for the successful operation of the International Space Station," said Moore, who will become the first woman to lead NASA's Moscow mission control operations.

Moore's assignment -- following three previous tours of duty in the Russian capital in the last 10 months -- will coincide with the launch of STS-86 in late September. STS-86 will mark the arrival of U.S. astronaut Dr. David Wolfe onboard the Mir, replacing U.S. astronaut Dr. Michael Foale. Moore will lead the team which will control all STS-86 U.S. hardware in orbit, as well as communications between the ground and the U.S. crew members. As lead controller during this tour of duty, she will be responsible, as well, for scheduling and the priority of the U.S. crew member's activities.

Despite the recent loss of power on Mir, said Moore, "when the power is re-distributed from Spektr, we will have regained the capability of executing the all-important science programs, including experiments in the fields of earth sciences, life sciences and microgravity. We're going to be able to do everything we set out to do in science on STS-86."

She described the life science experiments as "exciting, because we're doing the experiments aboard Mir over a longer period of time, and we can learn so much more than we can on shorter-duration flights. For example, we'll be studying bone and mineral loss in microgravity. This has significant applications to people on Earth, where osteoporosis is a common medical problem. As a result of experiments in space such as this, we hope to make life better for people on Earth."

Moore, a native of Tuscumbia, Ala., and graduate of Auburn University, began her NASA career at the Marshall Center in 1985. She has served as a Spacelab training manager, air-to-ground communicator during Space Shuttle missions, and payload operations controller.

Other Marshall employees in key space program positions in Moscow include Angela Jackman, who as mission scientist oversees all science experiment payloads; Jeff Hagopian, coordinator of experiment operations involving NASA's microgravity science program; and training manager Alan E. Johnston.

Except for Moore's position -- operations lead -- and the position of flight surgeon, both of which are longer-term assignments of several months -- Marshall flight team members are assigned to six-week stints in Moscow.

Moore will return to the United States and the Marshall Center when Wolfe returns from Mir, now scheduled for January 1998.

For her, said Moore, these stints "provide the only way to obtain long-duration flight experience as a ground controller. "It is very important that we learn from the Russians, as they've been doing this type of operations work for a very long time. That is why I signed up for a tour of duty in Russia."