NASA Astronauts - Including Space Station Crew Member From Maryland - Available for Interviews in Washington

WASHINGTON, July 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Headquarters in Washington will welcome space shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 astronauts and International Space Station Expedition 22 and 23 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer for a visit Monday, July 26, through Thursday, July 29.

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Creamer considers Upper Marlboro, Md., his hometown. He graduated from Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Md., and Loyola College in Columbia, Md.

Ken Ham commanded the shuttle flight and was joined by Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Steve Bowen and Piers Sellers. The six astronauts' 12-day mission in May was the last scheduled flight of Atlantis.

While in the nation's capital, the astronauts will participate in several activities open to the public and media. Reporters should refer to individual events for information about how to cover them.

At 10 a.m. Monday, Sellers will visit the Save the Children organization to return a T-shirt that he carried to space. Reporters planning to cover the presentation must contact Eileen Burke at 203-216-0718 or [email protected].

The astronauts will share mission highlights with NASA employees, their families and media at NASA Headquarters' James E. Webb Auditorium, 300 E Street SW, at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Monday. The crew's presentation will air live on NASA Television. Interviews are available after 2:30 p.m. To schedule an interview, reporters must contact Stephanie Schierholz at 202-358-1100 or [email protected].

At 6:30 p.m. Monday, the shuttle crew will discuss its mission at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business in the Lohrfink Auditorium of the Rafik B. Hariri Building. Reporters interested in covering the event or interviewing astronauts afterward should contact Teresa Mannix at 202-687-4080 or [email protected]. The sold-out event will be shown on NASA TV and webcast at http://www.msb.georgetown.edu.

The STS-132 astronauts will give an educational presentation and answer questions about their mission at the National Air and Space Museum on Tuesday, July 27, at 10:30 a.m. Sellers will return a replica of the Nobel Prize that is in the museum's collection and was flown aboard Atlantis. The prize was won by NASA astrophysicist John Mather and University of California, Berkeley researcher George Smoot in 2006 for their work using the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite to understand the big-bang theory of the universe. This event is open to the public. Media planning to attend must contact Isabel Lara at [email protected] or Brian Mullen at [email protected].

At 2 p.m. Tuesday, Good, Sellers and Reisman will visit the Children's National Medical Center at 111 Michigan Avenue, NW, in Washington. The astronauts will interact with the children and their families and talk to them about space exploration. Reporters interested in covering this visit must contact Paula Darte at 202-821-6357 or [email protected].

Creamer, an Army colonel, will visit the U.S. Army Center of Military History at the Pentagon Tuesday afternoon. Reporters interested in covering Creamer's tour of the exhibit must contact Gary Tallman at the Pentagon at 703-614-1742 or [email protected].

On Tuesday evening, all seven astronauts will attend the Washington Nationals baseball game at Nationals Park in southeast Washington, where they will be recognized on the field before the start of the game against the Atlanta Braves. More than 500 employees from NASA Headquarters and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., also are expected to attend the game. Credentialed media representatives who would like an interview at the ballpark must contact Joanna Comfort at 202-640-7711 or [email protected].

Creamer will visit his alma mater Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Md., on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Media who would like to accompany Creamer through his visit of the school must contact Jim Palmer at [email protected].

NASA has invited 100 of its Twitter followers to a Tweetup with Creamer on Thursday, July 29, at 3 p.m. at NASA Headquarters. While in space, Creamer set up the International Space Station's live Internet connection. He posted updates about the mission to his Twitter account and sent the first live tweet from the orbiting outpost. The NASA Tweetup will be broadcast on NASA TV. The event can be tracked with the hashtag #NASATweetup or by following the list of attendees at: http://twitter.com/nasatweetup/astro-tj-tweetup. Reporters who would like to cover the NASA Tweetup must register in advance with Stephanie Schierholz at 202-358-1100 or [email protected].

The STS-132 mission delivered the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 to the International Space Station. Also known as Rassvet (the Russian word for "dawn"), the module provides additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. The mission's three spacewalks focused on replacing and installing components outside the station, including replacing six batteries, installing a communications antenna and adding parts to the Canadian Dextre robotic arm. For more information about the STS-132 crew members and their mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts132/main

Creamer spent 161 days living aboard the station as part of the Expedition 22 and 23 crews. He launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in December 2009 and returned to Earth June 2. For Creamer's complete biography, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/creamer.html

For more information about the space station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

For NASA TV schedule information and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

SOURCE NASA