Note to Editors and Producers: To request photographs or arrange a post-mission interview with James Kelly, contact Janice Fink in media relations at 205/348-6444.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – James Kelly, who earned his master’s degree in aerospace engineering from The University of Alabama in 1996, will pilot the Space Shuttle Discovery on its March mission to the International Space Station.

Launching Thursday, March 8, on a 12-day mission, Discovery will be delivering the space station’s second crew to the orbital outpost and returning the first crew to earth.

Kelly, UA’s first astronaut, earned his master’s degree through a video-based distance learning program known as QUEST (Quality University Extended Site Telecourses). His first trip to the campus was for a special ceremony where he was awarded his degree.

This will be the first space mission for Kelly, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. A former military test pilot, Kelly has logged over 1,500 flight hours in more than 35 different aircraft.

More than 2,400 people applied for NASA’s 1996 astronaut class, and Kelly was one of only 35 members and one of only 10 pilots selected.

The primary payload for the shuttle mission will be the Leonardo Multipurpose Logistics Module, the first of three pressurized modules that will serve as "moving vans," carrying laboratory racks with equipment, experiments and supplies to and from the station aboard the shuttle. Two space walks are planned to complete assembly operations.

For more information, see NASA’s mission Web site and astronaut biographies contact Dr. Michael Freeman, associate professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics and one of Kelly’s UA professors, at 205/348-7304.