May 7 2018

From The Space Library

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Current revision

MEDIA ADVISORY M18-074 NASA Highlights Science on Next Orbital ATK Mission to Space Station

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 10, to discuss select science investigations and technology demonstrations launching on the next Orbital ATK commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station.

Orbital ATK is targeting Sunday, May 20, for the launch of its Cygnus spacecraft on an Antares rocket from pad 0A at Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia.

The Cygnus spacecraft will carry crew supplies, scientific research and hardware to the orbiting laboratory to support the Expedition 55 and 56 crews for the ninth contracted mission by Orbital ATK under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

To participate in the teleconference, media must contact Kathryn Hambleton at 202-358-1100 or kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov by 10 a.m. Thursday, for dial-in information.

Participants in Thursday’s briefing will be:

• Sarah Wallace, microbiologist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and principal investigator for Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST), an investigation to identify unknown microbial organisms on the space station and understand how humans, plants and microbes adapt to living on the station
• Robert Shotwell, chief engineer for Astronomy and Physics Directorate, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, and manager for the Cold Atom Laboratory, a physics research facility used by scientists to explore how atoms interact when they have almost no motion due to extreme cold temperatures
• Andrea Adamo, founder and CEO for Zaiput Flow Technologies, who will discuss plans to validate a unique liquid separation system that relies on surface forces, rather than gravity, to extract one liquid from another
• Brandon Briggs, assistant professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, who will discuss a payload that will evaluate the biological production of the biofuel isobutene using engineered E.coli under microgravity conditions
• A representative from Space Applications Services for the Ice Cubes Facility, the first commercial European opportunity to conduct research in space, made possible through an agreement with ESA (European Space Agency)

MEDIA ADVISORY M18-075 Genes in Space Students to Speak with NASA Astronauts on Space Station

Students from Houston area schools who participated in the Genes in Space challenge, will talk to astronauts on the International Space Station during an events hosted by Boeing and Space Center Houston, the official visitor center of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The event is part of NASA’s Year of Education on Station.

NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Scott Tingle will answer questions from schools that were finalists and winning schools of the Genes in Space challenge. The participating schools are Baylor College of Medicine Academy at James D. Ryan Middle School, Christa McAuliffe Middle School, Anahuac High School and Westfield High School.

The two hour event will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

NASA employees, Boeing VIPs and the general public will also attend. The event will begin at 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, May 10. Media interested in attending should contact the Boeing media representative, Steve Siceloff, via email at steven.p.siceloff@boeing.com or the Space Center Houston media representative, Meridyth Moore, via email at mmoore@spacecenter.org. The event will take place at 1601 E NASA Parkway, Houston.

Genes in Space invites students in grades 7-12 to design DNA experiments that address challenges in space exploration. This event is an integral component of NASA’s Year of Education on Station, which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators. Astronauts living in space on the orbiting laboratory communicate with the Mission Control Center on Earth 24 hours a day through the Space Network's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS).

Additionally, at 7:35 p.m. Friday, May 11, Drew Feustel will receive an honorary degree from Purdue University, which will air on NASA TV and the agency’s website.

MEDIA ADVISORY M18-073 NASA Astronaut Available for Satellite Interviews Before First Spaceflight

NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor will be available at 8 a.m. EDT Tuesday, May 15, for live satellite interviews one last time before she launches June 6 on her first spaceflight. The interviews will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Auñón-Chancellor currently is at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, with her crewmates for final prelaunch training until they depart May 19 for their launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Auñón-Chancellor and her crewmates, Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, will launch from Baikonur on the Russian Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft at 7:11 a.m. EDT (5:11 p.m. local time in Kazakhstan) June 6. They are scheduled to return to Earth in December.

Leading up to the interviews from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, NASA TV will air highlights from Auñón-Chancellor’s training beginning at 7:30 a.m.

To interview Auñón-Chancellor, media must contact Sarah Volkman at 281-483-9071 or sarah.e.volkman@nasa.gov no later than 3 p.m. Friday, May 11. Media participating in the interviews must tune to the NASA TV Media Channel. Satellite tuning information is available at: https://go.nasa.gov/1pOWUhR

Auñón-Chancellor is one of nine members of the 20th NASA astronaut class, selected in July 2009. She originally came to NASA in 2006 as a flight surgeon and served as the deputy lead for medical operations for NASA’s Orion spacecraft before joining the astronaut corps.

Originally from Fort Collins, Colorado, Auñón-Chancellor earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and a doctorate in medicine from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s McGovern Medical School.

Auñón-Chancellor will arrive at the International Space Station June 8, joining Expedition 56 Commander Drew Feustel and Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold of NASA, as well as Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos. The crew will continue several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science currently underway and scheduled to take place aboard humanity's only orbiting lab.