NASA Celebrates 10th Anniversary Of Space Station With Crew News Conference And New Web Content

WASHINGTON -- The International Space Station partner agencies will
mark a major milestone on Nov. 2 with the 10-year anniversary of
people living permanently aboard the space station. NASA will
commemorate the event with a news conference featuring the six crew
members currently in orbit.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will begin the event, speaking live
to the station crew at 9:15 a.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in
Florida. His remarks and the following news conference will be
broadcast live on NASA Television.

The news conference will begin immediately after the administrator's
conversation with the crew and be open to participation from
accredited media representatives at participating NASA or
international partner locations. U.S. media planning to attend should
contact their respective NASA newsroom by 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 1.

Expedition 25, the 25th crew to live and work aboard the station,
consists of Commander Doug Wheelock; his fellow NASA astronauts Scott
Kelly and Shannon Walker; and Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin,
Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka.

The crew is awaiting the launch of space shuttle Discovery's six
astronauts on the STS-133 mission to deliver supplies, spare parts
and a permanent cargo module to the station. STS-133 is scheduled to
lift off at 4:40 p.m. EDT on Nov. 1 from Kennedy.

"As we look forward to the next 10 years, taking us through 2020, the
space station will serve many roles," said Mike Suffredini,
International Space Station program manager. "With its permanent
human presence, it will serve as a foothold for long-term exploration
into space, being an integral part of testing human endurance,
equipment reliability and processes essential for space exploration."

Since the Expedition 1 crew arrived at the station, humans have
continuously occupied the orbiting laboratory. More than 196 people
have visited the complex, and by the exact time of the anniversary
(5:21 a.m., Nov. 2, 2000), the station will have completed 57,361
orbits of the Earth, traveling some 1.5 billion miles.

Representatives of the five international agencies that built and
operate the station have agreed in principle to continuing its use
for another decade. The governments of the 15 participating nations
in the station partnership are in the process of formally endorsing
that plan. More than 600 different research and technology
development experiments have been conducted on the station, many of
which are producing advances in medicine, recycling systems and a
fundamental understanding of the universe.

In addition to the crew news conference, NASA is updating the content
of the International Space Station section of its website in
recognition of the 10th anniversary. The update supports the on-going
transition from station assembly to utilization. The website now will
focus on the research in the unique microgravity environment of
low-Earth orbit.

The updated section of the NASA website incorporates an improved
organization system to help visitors find what they are looking for
with regard to research and technology development, crews and
expeditions, international cooperation and the new capabilities of
the station as a U.S. national laboratory.

The new space station section also provides better linkages with
social media applications, including a new International Space
Station Program scientist blog, and Twitter accounts for astronauts
aboard the station and the National Laboratory. For more information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

For a Flash feature and Web story on the first 10 years of human life
aboard the station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/expedition_10_years

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/living/10years.html

Julie Robinson, space station program scientist, is sponsoring an
inside look at how research is conducted on the station through a new
blog. The blog will bring to the public the stories of the
researchers and their discoveries as they unfold.

For the new program scientist blog, visit:

http://go.usa.gov/atI

To follow station science on Twitter, visit:

http://www.twitter.com/@ISS_Research

To follow the station's national laboratory activities, visit:

http://www.twitter.com/@ISS_NatLab

To follow Twitter updates from Expedition 25 astronauts Wheelock and
Kelly, visit:

http://www.twitter.com/@Astro_Wheels

http://www.twitter.com/@StationCDRKelly

For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Source: NASA

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