A biking accident has prompted NASA to replace one of the astronauts who was scheduled to travel to the International Space Station next month.
Astronaut Steve Bowen (below, left) will replace astronaut Tim Kopra (below, right) on the STS-133 mission, which is set to launch on February 24. Kopra was injured in a bike accident over the weekend, and while he is expected to recover, he will not be ready for the Discovery launch.
"Tim is doing fine and expects a full recovery, however, he will not be able to support the launch window next month," Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement. "If for some unanticipated reason STS-133 slips significantly, it is possible that Tim could rejoin the crew."
The Discovery launch has, in fact, been delayed several times due to weather, leaks, and cracks, but NASA said recently that it has resolved those issues and is confident that the February 24 launch date is a go. Switching out Kopra with Bowen should not delay the mission any further, NASA said.
Bowen will be training with the STS-133 crew this week, and will also train to perform two planned spacewalks, which include moving a failed ammonia pump and performing other external station configurations.
"Steve is an ideal candidate, and we have complete confidence he'll contribute to a fully successful STS-133 mission," Whitson said. "He has performed five prior spacewalks. That extensive experience, coupled with some adjustments to the spread of duties among the crew, will allow for all mission objectives to be accomplished as originally planned in the current launch window."
The STS-133 mission to the ISS will deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module, an external platform that holds large equipment and critical spare components for the station, as well as Robonaut 2 (R2), the first human-like robot in space.
Kopra's last mission launched on July 15, 2009 via the space shuttle Endeavour and returned on Discovery on September 11, 2009. He performed one spacewalk totaling 5 hours and 2 minutes, executed assembly tasks with the Space Station and Japanese robotic arms, and conducted numerous science experiments, NASA said.
