NASA TV to Cover Departure of Japanese Cargo Ship From Space Station Sept. 12

Joshua Buck

Headquarters, Washington     

202-358-1100

jbuck@nasa.gov

 

Kelly Humphries

Johnson Space Center, Houston

281-483-5111

kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov

 

WASHINGTON -- NASA Television will provide live coverage of the third Japanese "Kounotori" H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) cargo ship's departure from the International Space Station in two broadcasts Wednesday, Sept. 12. The first, covering unberthing, will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT, and the second, covering release, will begin at 11:30 a.m.

HTV-3, launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) July 21, arrived to the orbiting laboratory July 27 with several tons of supplies and experiments. Departure, originally planned for Sept. 6, was delayed to accommodate a second spacewalk by Expedition 32 Flight Engineers Sunita Williams of NASA and Akihiko Hoshide of JAXA on Wednesday.

Hoshide and fellow Expedition 32 Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA will be at the controls of the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to unbolt and disengage the cargo craft from the station's Harmony module. A few hours later the astronauts will release the cargo craft, which will be moved a safe distance away from the complex. JAXA flight controllers later will fire the spacecraft's engine, initiating its destructive entry back through Earth's atmosphere.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

For more information about the International Space Station and its continuing research activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

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Briefing Set to Preview Two Spacewalks from Space Station

Joshua Buck

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1100

jbuck@nasa.gov

 

Kelly Humphries

Johnson Space Center, Houston

281-483-5111

kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov

WASHINGTON -- NASA will preview a pair of spacewalks involving U.S., Russian and Japanese crew members aboard the International Space Station at 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 14. The briefing will be broadcast on NASA Television from the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston with media questions taken from other participating NASA locations.

The briefers are:

-- Dina Contella, Expedition 32 lead flight director

-- Kieth Johnson, lead U.S. spacewalk officer

Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency have a combined 12 spacewalks between them. They are scheduled to venture outside the Pirs airlock Monday, Aug. 20, for a six-hour spacewalk. The duo will install debris shields on the Zvezda service module and move a telescoping cargo crane from Pirs to the Zarya module.

Flight Engineer Sunita Williams of NASA, a veteran of four spacewalks on a previous station mission, and Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are scheduled to conduct a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk Thursday, Aug. 30. The spacewalk will focus on replacing a faulty power routing unit on the station's truss and running cables for an upcoming Russian laboratory module. Hoshide's first spacewalk will be the third for Japanese astronauts. This spacewalk will be the first based from the Quest airlock since July 2011.

To participate in the briefings by telephone, media representatives must call the Johnson newsroom 15 minutes before each briefing. Priority will be given to journalists participating in person; questions by phone will be taken as time permits.

For NASA TV downlink information, up-to-date schedules and links to streaming video, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

For more information about the International Space Station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

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Expedition 32 Launches

The Soyuz TMA-05M rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:40 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 14, 2012, carrying Expedition 32 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide to the International Space Station.

Image Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

Latest Crew Blasts Off For International Space Station

Joshua Buck

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1100

jbuck@nasa.gov

 

Jenny Knotts

Johnson Space Center, Houston

281-483-5111

norma.j.knotts@nasa.gov

WASHINGTON -- Three new crew members are on their way to the International Space Station. NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, Russian Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:40 p.m. EDT Saturday, July 14 (8:40 a.m. Baikonur time July 15).

Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide are scheduled to dock their Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft to the Rassvet module of the station at 12:52 a.m. EDT Tuesday, July 17. They will join Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Flight Engineers Joe Acaba of NASA and Sergei Revin of Russia, who have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since May 17.

The six crew members will work together for about two months. Acaba, Padalka and Revin are scheduled to return to Earth Sept. 17. Before they depart, Padalka will hand over command of the station and Expedition 33 to Williams. She, Malenchenko and Hoshide will return home in mid-November.

NASA Television will provide live docking coverage beginning at 12:15 a.m., July 17. Hatch opening and welcoming ceremonies will occur about three hours later.

To follow Twitter updates from the Expedition 32 and 33 astronauts, visit http://twitter.com/Astro_Suni , http://twitter.com/AstroAcaba , and http://twitter.com/Aki_Hoshide.

For more information about Expedition 32 and the International Space Station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

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Virginia Students To Speak Live With Space Station Resident

Sonja Alexander

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1761

sonja.r.alexander@nasa.gov

 

Rachel Kraft

Johnson Space Center, Houston

281-483-5111

rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov

 

WASHINGTON -- More than 200 students will meet at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, Va., to speak with Expedition 32 flight engineer Joe Acaba aboard the International Space Station at 8:55 a.m. EDT, Thursday, July 5. Media representatives are invited to attend.

The question-and-answer discussion, coordinated by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and the museum, will be broadcast live on NASA Television and include video of Acaba. The students, most of whom are Hispanic, will ask questions about life, work and research on the space station. Several of the questions will be asked and answered in Spanish.

To attend the event, reporters must contact Nancy Tait at ntait@smv.org. The museum is located at 2500 West Broad Street in Richmond. 

Many of the students also are participating in other NASA programs, including camps associated with the agency's Summer of Innovation (SoI) project. SoI provides hands-on learning opportunities for middle school students and educators through NASA-unique science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educational activities during the summer school break.

Acaba arrived at the space station with Russian Federal Space Agency's cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin on May 17. They will be joined later this month by NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States and abroad to improve STEM teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

The exact time of the downlink could change. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

To follow Twitter updates from Acaba, visit http://twitter.com/AstroAcaba.

For information about NASA's education programs, visit http://www.nasa.gov/education.

For information about the International Space Station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

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Trio From International Space Station Lands Safely in Kazakhstan

Joshua Buck

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1100

jbuck@nasa.gov

 

Kelly Humphries

Johnson Space Center, Houston

281-483-5111

kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov

HOUSTON -- Three members of the Expedition 31 crew undocked from the International Space Station and returned safely to Earth Sunday, July 1, wrapping up a mission that lasted six-and-a-half months.

Russian Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers landed their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 3:14 a.m. CDT (2:14 p.m. local time) after undocking from the space station's Rassvet module at 11:47 p.m. June 30. The trio, which arrived at the station Dec. 23, 2011, spent a total of 193 days in space, 191 of which were aboard the station.

During their expedition, the crew supported more than 200 scientific investigations involving more than 400 researchers around the world. The studies ranged from integrated investigations of the human cardiovascular and immune systems to fluid, flame and robotic research.

Before leaving the station, Kononenko handed over command of Expedition 32 to the Russian Federal Space Agency's Gennady Padalka, who remains aboard the station with NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will join them July 17. Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide are scheduled to launch July 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

On June 25, Pettit celebrated achieving one cumulative year in space, combining his time in orbit on Expedition 6, Expedition 30/31 and the STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour flight to the station in November 2008. Pettit now has 370 days in space, placing him fourth among U.S. space fliers for the longest time in space.

During Expedition 31, Pettit also used household objects aboard the station to perform a variety of unusual physics experiments for the video series "Science Off the Sphere." Through these demonstrations, Pettit showed more than a million Internet viewers how space affects scientific principles.

To watch "Science Off the Sphere" videos, visit http://www.physicscentral.com/sots.

To follow Twitter updates from NASA's Expedition 31 and 32 astronauts, visit http://twitter.com/Astro_Suni , https://twitter.com/AstroAcaba , https://twitter.com/Aki_Hoshide.

For more information about Expedition 32 and the space station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

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