Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, attired in a training version of his spacesuit, is submerged in the waters of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory near NASA's Johnson Space Center in this image from January 2012. Divers assisted Hoshide in this training exercise, which is intended to help prepare him for work on the exterior of the International Space Station.

Hoshide and his Expedition 32 crew mates Suni Williams and Yuri Malenchenko are scheduled to launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-05M from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on July 14 to the station.

Image Credit: NASA

Coverage Set For Next Soyuz Space Station Crew Rotation

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 -- Over the next several weeks, NASA Television will provide coverage of the departure of three crew members from the International Space Station and prelaunch, launch and arrival activities of three new residents.

Coverage will begin Wednesday, June 20, with the first of a series of Video Files of Expedition 32/33 Flight Engineers Suni Williams of NASA, Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) participating in training and ceremonial activities at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

On June 29, NASA TV will broadcast a change of command ceremony aboard the orbiting laboratory in which Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos will hand over the reins of command to Gennady Padalka. Padalka, a cosmonaut for Roscosmos, will become the International Space Station's first three-time commander. When the Soyuz TMA-03M undocks on June 30, Expedition 31 will transition to Expedition 32 under Padalka's command.

Kononenko and Flight Engineers Don Pettit of NASA and Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency will depart the station in their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft June 30 for a July 1 landing in Kazakhstan to complete their six-and-a-half-month mission. Two weeks later, July 14 (July 15 in Kazakhstan), Williams, Hoshide and Malenchenko will launch to the station in the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The three will arrive at the station July 16 to join Padalka and Flight Engineers Joe Acaba of NASA and Sergei Revin of Roscosmos, who have been aboard the station since mid-May.

NASA TV's scheduled coverage includes (all times Central):

Wednesday, June 20

11 a.m. -- Video File of the Expedition 32/33 (Suni Williams, Yuri Malenchenko, Aki Hoshide) qualification training simulation runs at Star City, Russia.

Saturday, June 30

8:15 p.m. -- Expedition 31 farewells and hatch closure coverage (hatch closure at 8:40 p.m.)

11:30 p.m. -- Expedition 31/Soyuz TMA-03M undocking coverage (undocking at 11:53 p.m.)

Sunday, July 1

2 a.m. -- Expedition 31/Soyuz TMA-03M deorbit burn and landing coverage (deorbit burn at 2:19 a.m., landing at 3:15 a.m.)

Saturday, July 14

8:30 p.m. -- Expedition 32/33 Soyuz TMA-05M launch coverage (includes video b-roll of the crew's prelaunch activities at 8:45 p.m.; launch scheduled at 9:40 p.m.)

Monday, July 16

11:15 p.m. -- Expedition 32/33 Soyuz TMA-05M docking coverage (docking at 11:50 p.m. followed by post-docking news conference from Mission Control in Korolev, Russia)

Tuesday, July 17

2:15 a.m. -- Expedition 32/33 Soyuz TMA-05M hatch opening and welcoming ceremony coverage (hatch opening and welcoming ceremony at 2:45 a.m.)

Additional Video File footage of the Expedition 32/33 crew's pre-launch activities in Star City, Russia; Moscow; and Baikonur, Kazakhstan will be broadcast on NASA TV on June 22 and July 2, 10, 11, 12 and 13. Post-launch and post-docking Video Files will air on NASA TV on July 14 and 17. Video Files involving the Expedition 31 crew activities following their Soyuz landing in Kazakhstan will air on July 1.

For NASA's complete list of Soyuz landing and launch coverage, visit http://go.nasa.gov/NTVsched.

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

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

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NASA Astronaut to Name Global Winners in YouTube Space Lab Contest

Joshua Buck

Headquarters, Washington

WASHINGTON -- NASA astronaut Suni Williams will announce Thursday the two winners of the YouTube Space Lab contest, a global science competition that challenges 14-18 year-old students to design a science experiment for the International Space Station. The awards ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. EDT in the Newseum's Knight Room at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. in Washington.

Thousands of individuals and teams from more than 80 countries entered the competition to have their experiment flown in space. Williams will perform the two winning YouTube Space Lab contest experiments 250 miles above Earth during the Expedition 32 and 33 missions on the space station later this year.

A team of judges, including William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration Mission Directorate, and Leland Melvin, associate administrator for NASA's Office of Education and a former astronaut, selected 60 finalists. Online voting chose the final six. Gerstenmaier will introduce the finalists in the 17-18 year-old category at the awards ceremony.

Members of the media who wish to attend the ceremony can RSVP online at http://bit.ly/GzGXWx.

The 2005 NASA Authorization Act designated the U.S. segment of the space station as a national laboratory and directed NASA to develop a plan to "increase the utilization of the ISS by other Federal entities and the private sector." As the nation's newest national laboratory, the station further strengthens relationships among NASA, other Federal entities, and private sector leaders in the pursuit of national priorities for the advancement of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The International Space Station National Laboratory is opening new paths for the exploration and economic development of space. As these activities are ramping up, contests like the YouTube Space Lab are important components of an integrated strategy to inspire the next generation of explorers and scientists using the orbiting outpost.

For information about the contest and to see the proposals from the 60 finalists, visit

http://www.youtube.com/spacelab.

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

For more information about Expedition 32 and 33, visit http://go.nasa.gov/Expedition32 and http://go.nasa.gov/Expedition33.

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