NASA Flight Directors Available For Interviews For Final Shuttle Mission
HOUSTON -- NASA Flight Directors Kwatsi Alibaruho (KWAT-seeAh-lee-buh-roo-hoe) of Maywood, Ill., and Chris Edelen of
Martinsville, Va., are available for live satellite interviews from 6
to 7:50 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, July 6. Just two days later, they will
support the scheduled launch of space shuttle Atlantis on its STS-135
mission, the final flight of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program.
On July 8, Atlantis and four NASA astronauts are scheduled to lift off
from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the 12-day
mission, they will transfer tons of supplies to the station from the
Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module.
Alibaruho, the lead space shuttle flight director for STS-135, and
Edelen, the lead International Space Station flight director, will
discuss their roles and the shuttle mission. To participate in the
interviews, reporters must contact Stephanie Stoll at 281-483-9071 or
at stephanie.r.stoll@nasa.gov before 3 p.m. on Tuesday, July 5.
Alibaruho became a NASA flight director in 2005. He will be available
from 6 to 6:50 a.m. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.
Edelen, a NASA flight director since 2007, will be available from 7 to
7:50 a.m. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech and the University of
Houston, Clear Lake.
NASA Television will air b-roll footage of STS-135 mission
preparations beginning at 5:30 a.m.
The NASA Live Interview Media Outlet (LIMO) used for the interviews
and preceding b-roll is a digital satellite C-band downlink by uplink
provider Americom. It is on satellite AMC 3, transponder 9C, located
at 87 degrees west; downlink frequency 3865.5 Mhz based on a standard
C-band, horizontal downlink polarity, FEC is 3/4, data rate is 6.0
Mbps, symbol rate is 4.3404 Msps, transmission DVB-S, 4:2:0.
Alibaruho's interviews will be simulcast on NASA TV's Public and Media
Channels. Edelen's interviews will be simulcast on the Media Channel
only due to other programming on the NASA TV Public Channel at that time.
For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For more information about the STS-135 mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
For more information about the space station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
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NASA Invites 150 Lucky Twitter Followers To Final Space Shuttle Launch
WASHINGTON -- The final launch of the space shuttle program isscheduled for 11:26 a.m. EDT on July 8, and NASA has invited 150
followers of the agency's Twitter account to be there. People
selected will have a behind-the-scenes perspective from the press
site at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA randomly selected the participants from more than 5,500 online
registrants during a 24-hour opportunity on June 1-2. Attendees
represent 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Australia,
Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain,
Switzerland and the U.K.
Tweetup participants are coming from Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho,
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New
York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington,
West Virginia and Wisconsin.
They will share their experiences with their more than 1.5 million
combined followers through the social networking site Twitter.
Beginning at 10:30 a.m. on July 7, NASA will broadcast a portion of
the Tweetup when participants get to talk with Bill Gerstenmaier,
associate administrator for Space Operations, astronaut Mike
Massimino and Angie Brewer, space shuttle Atlantis' flow director at Kennedy.
Joining them will be a special guest, Sesame Street's Elmo. Sesame
Street will be at Kennedy to film Elmo, as he learns about space
exploration at NASA.
To watch the broadcast, visit:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/
Participants also will tour Kennedy; make an up close visit to the
launch pad, and wave at Atlantis' crew members on their drive to the
launch pad. The Tweetup culminates with the shuttle's lift off.
Reporters credentialed to cover the launch also may cover the NASA
Tweetup at Kennedy's press site. Reporters interested in interviewing
Tweetup attendees in advance should contact Stephanie Schierholz at
202-358-1100 or stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov.
This is the fifth time NASA has invited Twitter followers to
experience a space shuttle launch. Previously, groups attended lift
offs of Atlantis' STS-129 and STS-132 missions, Discovery's STS-133
mission, and Endeavour's STS-134 mission.
To follow the Tweetup participants on Twitter, as they experience the
prelaunch events and shuttle liftoff, follow the #NASATweetup hashtag
and the list of attendees at:
http://twitter.com/
All four of Atlantis' crew members are posting updates to Twitter. You
can follow Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission
Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim at:
http://www.twitter.com/Astro_
http://www.twitter.com/Astro_
http://www.twitter.com/Astro_
http://www.twitter.com/Astro_
To connect with NASA on Twitter and other social networking sites, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
For more information about space shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
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