NASA Astronaut Steve Swanson Visits Washington with Open Media Events

News provided by

Mar 03, 2015, 08:49 ET

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA astronaut Steve Swanson, who returned in September 2014 from 169 days of living and working aboard the International Space Station, is visiting the Washington area today through Thursday, March 5, to discuss with students and local innovators research being done on the station.

Swanson will accompany U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, on a visit to Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine, Maryland, where they will speak to students about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and the connection with the future of agriculture, including Swanson's research in vegetable plant growth aboard the ISS. The school is located at 13800 Brandywine Road.

Swanson and Harden will discuss the intersection of agriculture and space exploration at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 5, at the University of Maryland's College of Agriculture in College Park.

Media who want to attend any of these events should contact Sarah Ramsey at 202-358-1694 or [email protected].

Swanson spent almost six months living and working on the space station from March to September 2014. He has been to the station twice previously as a mission specialist aboard space shuttle Atlantis, missionSTS-117 in 2007 and space shuttle Discovery, missionSTS-119, in 2009.

Swanson's official biography is available at:

http://go.usa.gov/3xqT4

For information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

To learn more about Swanson's mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition39

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO

SOURCE NASA