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Lawrence Bumped from Mir Mission

Citing the possibility of repair spacewalks, NASA officials announced July 30 that astronaut Wendy Lawrence, who was scheduled as the next astronaut to stay on the Russian Mir space station, would be replaced by her backup, Dr. David Wolf.
     Lawrence, only 160 cm (5 feet 3 inches) tall, would not fit in the Russian Orlan spacesuit used for spacewalks. Wolf, on the other hand, fits in the spacesuit. NASA officials, in consultation with Russian colleagues, decided that having an extra crew member capable of performing spacewalks would be useful on the station, given its current condition.
     "When first selected to fly on the Mir, it was absolutely normal that she [Lawrence] would not be considered to be a spacewalk qualified crew member," said Frank Culbertson, NASA's Shuttle-Mir program manager.
     "Only because of subsequent events have requirements on board the Mir changed," Culbertson said. "As a result, the joint decision was made to have all three crew members on board qualified to handle spacewalking tasks."
     Wolf had been training for the following, and final, long-duration stay on Mir, scheduled for early next year. That position will likely be taken by Wolf's backup, Andrew Thomas.
     To give Wolf time to complete his training, the launch of STS-86, the shuttle-Mir docking mission, will be delayed approximately 10 days to late September. STS-86 had been scheduled for a September 18 launch on the shuttle Atlantis.
     Lawrence will remain on the mission, in part because of hew knowledge of the systems on Mir and crew and cargo transfer logistics. However, she will return to Earth with the rest of the shuttle crew, while Wolf takes Michael Foale's place on Mir.
     Culbertson said that Lawrence told him, "'Frank, I totally understand. If I were in your position I would do the same thing.'"
     It was the second time Lawrence's height had taken her off a Mir mission. She had been removed from an earlier Mir mission in 1995 when Russian officials decided Lawrence was too short to fit into the couches inside the Soyuz capsule, should an emergency evacuation of the station be necessary. Those height restrictions have since been eased, and Lawrence was placed on a later mission.
     While Culbertson said NASA made the decision in consultation with Russian Space Agency officials, some Russian officials were caught off guard by the announcement. "For us it was very unexpected," mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin told Reuters. "We only learned about it when our representative who was at NASA called from Washington."

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