The Nation - News from Feb. 5, 1988

Veteran shuttle skipper Brewster Shaw and four other astronauts were named as the crew of the third post-Challenger shuttle mission, a classified military flight now planned for late this year. Shaw, an Air Force colonel, was named to the flight aboard the shuttle Columbia along with co-pilot Richard Richards, a Navy commander. Also named to the crew were Navy Cmdr. David Leestma, and Lt. Col. James C. Adamson and Maj. Mark N. Brown, both of the Air Force. Shaw is a veteran of the ninth shuttle mission aboard Columbia and served as commander of the shuttle Atlantis for the 23rd mission in November, 1985. Leestma walked in space in October, 1984, during a flight aboard Challenger. Columbia’s launch currently is scheduled for early December but the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is studying whether to delay the flight until March, 1989.