NASA assigns STS-119 crew

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency announced the crew assignments for the STS-119 mission to the International Space Station, targeted for launch in the fall of 2008.

U.S. Air Force Col. Lee Archambault will command the space shuttle Discovery mission that will also include Navy Cmdr. Dominic Antonelli as pilot and astronauts Joseph Acaba, Richard Arnold II, John Phillips and Steven Swanson. Antonelli, Acaba and Arnold will be making their first spaceflights, while Archambault and Swanson will be on their second space missions. Phillips will be making his third spaceflight.

Discovery is to carry the S6 truss segment to complete the 361-foot-long backbone of the space station, as well as the station's final pair of power-generating solar array wings.

Members of the STS-119 crew were originally announced in 2002, but as a result of changes in the flight manifest, new crew assignments were necessary.

Discovery is set for liftoff Tuesday with another mission to the ISS.