Romance Will Take Flight--Couple to Be on Next Shuttle

The next space shuttle flight will break with tradition, not to mention NASA policy, when astronauts Mark Lee and Jan Davis will become the first married couple in space.

The two were married a year and a half ago, months after they were assigned to the flight. Lee, 39, and Davis, 38, certainly won’t see that much of one another during the laboratory research mission, scheduled for mid-September. They will be working different shifts.

Although public attention has been intense, they haven’t found it to be a distraction.

“We see it as somewhat of a sidelight that really doesn’t have a lot to do with the mission,” Lee said recently while training at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. “It’s interesting, but not real relevant to preparing for the flight.”

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration turned its attention to the upcoming Spacelab flight--the 50th shuttle mission and the second flight of Endeavour--after Atlantis landed safely Saturday at Kennedy Space Center.

It will be Lee’s second space flight and Davis’ first. Both are mechanical engineers.

Endeavour’s crew also includes astronaut Mae Jemison, a doctor who will be the first black woman in space, and chemist Mamoru Mohri, who will be the first Japanese to fly on a U.S. spaceship.