NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, a veteran spacewalker who flew aboard the shuttle Atlantis last May, has been assigned to fly of the STS-133 Discovery mission slated for launch February 24, 2011 from the Kennedy Space Center and set to dock with the International Space Station.Bowen replaces NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, injured in a bicycle accident last Saturday. Kopra had been named to the STS-133 crew in September 2009 and has over a year in NASA training for two mission spacewalks at the ISS. Bowen is a veteran with five previous spacewalks at the ISS.
Last week, NASA named a backup commander to train in place of astronaut Mark Kelly, the STS-134 commander. Kelly's wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Az.), was critically wounded in a Tucson following an assassination attempt January 8, 2011. Kelly may still make his assignment aboard Endeavour, scheduled for launch April 19, 2011 with his wife making a miraculous recovery from her injuries. She is set to enter rehabilitation in Texas, according to press reports.
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