NASA announced last week that astronaut Thomas Jones, a class of 1988 UA graduate, has been chosen as one of two mission specialists for a November flight aboard the space shuttle Columbia.

Jones has been a mission specialist on two previous flights, both aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. In April 1994 he ran science operations for the first flight of the Space Radar Laboratory, and in October he was payload commander for the laboratory's second mission.

Mission specialists are aboard the shuttle to perform a specific task, said Johnathan Brownlee of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.

"Payload specialists are there because of something on board, but mission specialists are up there to do something," he said.

On the upcoming mission, Jones and astronaut Tamara Jernigan are scheduled for a spacewalk to evaluate hardware for future missions.

"Sometimes we'll be on the end of the shuttle's robotic arm," he said.

The astronauts are spacewalking to prepare themselves for upcoming work on the international space station, said SEDS member Michael DiCenso. Shuttle missions after the Challenger explosion did not involve many spacewalks, but the Hubble telescope repair mission proved to NASA that real-environment practice was essential, he said.

"They found out they can never practice too much," he said.

The astronauts practice by manipulating a large weighted box, the size and shape of a battery container designed for the space station, Jones said. They will also use special power tools to be used in later missions.

Jones said he has no fears about making his first spacewalk. "I'm sure I'll have butterflies before I go out the door, but it's an incredible opportunity," he said.

And the view should be much more impressive than those on previous missions because the helmet visor provides a larger and unobstructed view of the surroundings, Jones said.

Jones came to the University of Arizona in 1983 to pursue his dream of becoming an astronaut, said Larry Lebofsky, senior research specialist with the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and Jones' former advisor. A previous career flying B-52s for the Air Force was not getting him any closer to his goal , he said.