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Injured Astronaut Pulled From Shuttle Flight

CAPE CANAVERAL (CBS4) - Astronaut Timothy Kopra who was scheduled to blast off on NASA's next shuttle mission in about a month and a half will be watching it from the ground like everyone else.

Kopra was pulled from the mission Wednesday because of injuries he suffered in a bicycle crash last weekend. He is recuperating and on indefinite sick leave.

NASA said veteran spaceman Stephen Bowen has been added to the mission.  Bowen will assume Kopra's spacewalking duties during the 11-day flight. That flight has been on hold since November because of fuel tank cracks.

Last week, NASA named a backup commander for the April flight of Endeavour. The official commander, Mark Kelly, remains at the hospital bedside of his wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

 

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