Three Space Station Crews to Answer Media Questions from Orbit

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Sep 02, 2015, 12:39 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nine International Space Station crew members will discuss their mission with reporters from around the world during a joint crew news conference to air live on NASA Television at 10:10 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 8.

This will be the first time since November 2013 that nine crew members are aboard the station simultaneously.

The nine crew members represent five different space agencies:

NASA's Scott Kelly, one-year crew member and Expedition 45 commander, and Kjell Lindgren, Expedition 44/45 flight engineer
Russian Federal Space Agency's (Roscosmos') Gennady Padalka, Expedition 44 commander; Mikhail Kornienko, one-year crew member; Oleg Kononenko, Expedition 44/45 flight engineer; and Sergey Volkov, Expedition 45/46 flight engineer
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kimiya Yui, Expedition 44/45 flight engineer
ESA's (European Space Agency) Andreas Mogensen, visiting crew member
Kazakh Space Agency's Aidyn Aimbetov, visiting crew member

The news conference, arranged in coordination with NASA's international partner agencies, will last 45 minutes and feature questions from U.S., Russian, European and Japanese media. Each partner agency will have 10 minutes for questions. Because of the limited time available, all U.S. media will be required to ask their questions in person at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston or NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. International media accreditation for this event is closed for participation from NASA's centers. Interested international media should contact partner agencies for more information.

To apply for accreditation at the Johnson Space Center, journalists must call Johnson's newsroom at 281-483-5111 by 9 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 8.

To apply for accreditation at Kennedy, U.S. media without permanent center credentials must apply for accreditation by 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7. Two forms of government-issued identification are required to receive a badge. One must be with a photograph such as a driver's license or passport. Badges will be available for pickup at the Kennedy Badging Office, located on State Road 405 east of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Hours for the Kennedy Badging Office are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Questions about accreditation may be addressed to Jennifer Horner at 321-867-6598 or [email protected].

Media must apply for Kennedy Space Center credentials online at:
https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

Volkov, Mogensen and Aimbetov launched aboard a Soyuz TMA-18M rocket Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The three are set to arrive at the space station on Friday, Sept. 4, and will join Kelly, Lindgren, Padalka, Kononenko, Kornienko, and Yui.

The trip enables Roscosmos to rotate a crew member and a Soyuz spacecraft. Volkov will remain aboard the station for the next six months, returning in March 2016 with one-year mission crew members Kelly and Kornienko in the Soyuz TMA-18M. Padalka, who launched in March with Kelly and Kornienko in the Soyuz TMA-16M, will return to Earth in that spacecraft on Friday, Sept. 11 with Mogensen and Aimbetov. Each Soyuz remains in orbit for about six months.

In the coming months, Expedition 45 crew members will conduct more than 250 science investigations in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences, and technology development.

For the full schedule of docking and landing coverage, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

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

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SOURCE NASA