MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-018

NASA, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND INVITE PUBLIC TO ASTRONAUTS' DISCUSSION OF RECENT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION MISSIONS

WASHINGTON -- NASA and the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering invite the public to a discussion with three astronauts from recent International Space Station expedition missions at 5:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 14, in the Hoff Theater inside the Adele H. Stamp Student Union. The crew members will give a video presentation about their mission and answer questions from the audience.

Free tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets can be picked up from the Stamp Union ticket office daily between noon and 10 p.m., starting Monday, Feb. 6. Reporters interested in covering the event should contact Missy Corley at 301-405-6501 or mcorley@umd.edu.

Mike Fossum served as a flight engineer for Expedition 28 and as commander for Expedition 29. During his stay, the station celebrated 11 years of continuous residence and work. Fossum returned to Earth on Nov. 21, 2011. He has logged more than 194 days in space, including more than 48 hours of extravehicular activity (EVA) in seven spacewalks. He is seventh on the all-time list of cumulative EVA time.

Ron Garan served as a flight engineer for Expeditions 27 and 28. While aboard the station, Garan continued work on a variety of microgravity experiments and welcomed two shuttle visits, including the last to the station. Garan landed on Sept. 15, 2011. He has logged more than 178 days in space, including 27 hours and 3 minutes outside the station during four spacewalks.

Cady Coleman served as a flight engineer for Expeditions 26 and 27. She was the lead robotics and science officer. While aboard, the station hosted a record number of visiting spacecraft: five vehicles from four space agencies. She returned to Earth on May 24, 2011. Coleman has logged over 4,330 hours in space aboard the station and space shuttle Columbia.

The trio also will give a presentation earlier in the day to NASA employees at 10:30 a.m. in NASA Headquarters' James E. Webb Auditorium, located at 300 E St. SW in Washington. The presentation will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. The astronauts will be available for media interviews from 9 to 10 a.m. Journalists must call 202-358-1100 to attend the presentation or to schedule an interview.

For more information about Fossum, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/fossum.html

http://www.twitter.com/astro_aggie

For more information about Garan, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/garan-rj.html

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Ron

For more information about Coleman, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/coleman.html

http://www.twitter.com/astro_cady

For more information about the A. James Clark School of Engineering, visit:

http://www.eng.umd.edu/impact/space

For a map of the University of Maryland campus and location of the Stamp Student Union (Building 163), visit:

http://bit.ly/zku8ht

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

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

-end-

Clint Bradford clintbradford@mac.com