Sunday, November 10, 2002 Posted: 7:08 AM HKT (2308 GMT)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — 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…
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