Shuffled shuttle crew ready for its mission

CAPE CANAVERAL -- It was bad enough when a medical problem sidelined one astronaut, but then a back injury forced another off space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming flight, sending shock waves through the crew.

Not since Apollo 13 had a career astronaut, let alone two, been bumped from an impending U.S. space shot because of health concerns.

"We were joking a lot about being Number 113," said Kenneth Bowersox, who at last check was still fit for Monday's launch and a lengthy space station stay. He suggested, during lighter moments, changing the mission's STS-113 designation.

For the record, Endeavour's flight to the international space station remains Space Transportation System No. 113. The mission patch plays it safe, though, and goes with Roman numerals: CXIII.

Seven astronauts will be aboard Endeavour, including eleventh-hour fill-ins Donald Pettit and Paul Lockhart.

Pettit will spend the winter aboard the space station with Bowersox and Russian Nikolai Budarin. Lockhart, Endeavour's pilot, will deliver them and bring back the three who have been living on the orbiting complex since June.

Pettit and Lockhart were upgraded over the summer. For Apollo 13, the countdown was already under way in 1970 when the switch in command module pilots occurred. Thomas "Ken" Mattingly was exposed to German measles and replaced by Jack Swigert on what was to become an even more star-crossed mission.

Pettit was training in Russia as the space station backup for Donald Thomas when Bowersox broke the news in July: Pettit was in and Thomas was out. NASA's medical experts had been debating for months whether Thomas should be grounded because of an undisclosed issue and finally ordered that the two Donalds be swapped.

"It was one of those things that was right on the line," said Bowersox, the expedition commander. "I had trouble sleeping before it happened because I was so worried about which way we should go and what was right and what was wrong and the best way to handle it."

A couple weeks later, in August, shuttle pilot Christopher Loria became the second casualty after hurting his back at home. Because Lockhart had just flown to the space station on Endeavour in June, NASA asked him to step in.

For Bowersox, the pilot swap was "an even bigger shock" than having Pettit suddenly on board. Bowersox and his station crew were still in Russia and had no clue anything was amiss.

NASA already had delivered the meals and clothes for the upcoming space station crew, leaving Pettit stuck with Thomas' selections.

Thomas filled his advance shipments with chocolate, but no coffee. Pettit needs two cups of Java a day and craves green chili, not chocolate. So he's stashed instant coffee and northern New Mexican green chili aboard Endeavour.

Three-man crew leaves space station on 'Soyuz'

ASTANA, Kazakstan -- A Russian space capsule carrying two Russian astronauts and Belgium's first astronaut separated from the international space station and headed for Earth.

The Soyuz capsule separated from the space station automatically at 3:44 p.m. Saturday, according to a spokesman at Russian mission control in Korolyov, outside Moscow.

The crew of Capt. Sergei Zaletin, Belgian first flight engineer Frank de Winne of the European Space Agency, and second flight engineer Yuri Lonchakov, landed about 31/2 hours later in the steppes of Kazakstan.

They had taken off on Oct. 29 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the former Central Asian republic, which Russia uses for its manned space flights.

Their trip to Earth won't take as long as their two-day journey to the space station, but won't be as comfortable. They were traveling in a standard Soyuz space capsule, but went up in a Soyuz TMA-1, which features an improved control system and more comfortable seats that can accommodate larger crew members.

The mission comes amid concern that Russia may reduce its contribution to the international space station in connection with the U.S. decision to cut funding for the project.

Russia must provide at least four cargo ships and two Soyuz crew capsules for the station every year, but the government funds allocated for next year are only enough for two cargo ships, Russia's space agency said last month.

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