The media are invited to attend a briefing by NASA astronaut Steven R. Swanson during his visit to Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Swanson, who returned from the International Space Station in September 2014, will share his experiences in space with the Glenn workforce during an hour-long briefing, starting at 1 p.m. EST, Jan. 13, 2015. A media availability will immediately follow.
On March 25, 2014, Swanson and two Russian cosmonauts left Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket as members of Expedition 39. They docked with the space station two days later. Swanson served as a flight engineer until May, when he assumed command of the orbiting outpost upon the arrival of the Expedition 40 crew.
Swanson returned to Earth on Sept. 10, 2014. During his mission, he logged 169 days in space, traveling almost 72 million miles. While on the station, Swanson performed various microgravity, Earth remote sensing, and biology, bone and muscle physiology studies, several of which were developed by Glenn researchers.
A veteran of the Space Shuttle Program, Swanson completed two shuttle missions before his service on Expeditions 39 and 40 aboard the space station. During his missions, he completed four spacewalks, totaling 26 hours, 22 minutes and accumulated 195 days, 15 hours and 41 minutes in space.
Media representatives interested in attending the briefing must contact Frank Jennings by email at francis.t.jennings@nasa.gov or by phone at 216-433-2776 or 216-233-3831 by 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 to arrange for required NASA security clearances.
To learn more about Swanson, visit: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/swanson.html
To learn more about Glenn, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/glenn
