NASA'S Space Shuttle Crew in Washington, Available for Interviews

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Headquarters in Washington will welcome space shuttle Atlantis' STS-129 astronauts for a visit on Monday, Jan. 11, through Thursday, Jan. 14. The crew wrapped up an 11-day journey in space of nearly 4.5 million miles on Nov. 27.

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Commander Charlie Hobaugh, Pilot Barry Wilmore, Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Randy Bresnik, Mike Foreman and Bobby Satcher will share mission highlights with NASA employees, school children, college students and the general public while in the nation's capital. Reporters interested in covering the events or interviewing a crew member should contact NASA Public Affairs at 202-358-1100.

To kick off their visit, the crew will give a postflight presentation to NASA employees, their families and reporters at 10 a.m. EST, Monday, at NASA Headquarters' James E. Webb Auditorium, 300 E. Street, S.W. The crew's presentation will air live on NASA Television's education channel.

On Tuesday, Melvin and Satcher will present mission highlights from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Howard University School of Science and Mathematics on campus. For more information, please contact 2nd Lt. Janay Wilson at 202-806-6789.

The crew also will attend the Washington Wizards game against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday at the Verizon Center. They will participate in pregame activities and view the game, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. The astronauts will bring with them an NBA jersey that was flown on their shuttle flight. The jersey is expected to be returned to the NBA during the All-Star game in Dallas.

Wilmore, Foreman, Bresnik and Melvin will give a public presentation about their spaceflight from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Thursday at the National Air and Space Museum's new "Moving Beyond Earth" exhibit. The audience will consist of 250 students (grades 6th through 12th), visitors, employees and invited guests.

The STS-129 shuttle mission included three spacewalks and the installation of two platforms to the International Space Station's truss, or backbone. The platforms hold large spare parts to sustain station operations after the shuttles are retired. The shuttle crew delivered about 30,000 pounds of replacement parts for systems that provide power to the station, keep it from overheating, and maintain a proper orientation in space.

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

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the STS-129 mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

SOURCE NASA