HOUSTON – NASA astronaut Daniel Tani of Chicago, who returned to Earth Feb. 20 after approximately four months on the International Space Station, will be available for satellite interviews from 6 – 8 a.m. CST on Wednesday, March 5.

Tani was part of the station’s Expedition 16 crew. He launched to the complex on space shuttle Discovery Oct. 23, 2007. During his stay in orbit, Tani conducted five spacewalks and saw the first expansion of the station’s living and working space in more than six years. The crew added the Harmony connecting node and the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory.

To participate in the interviews, reporters should contact producer Michael Hare at 281-483-8631 no later than 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 4. B-roll featuring highlights of Tani’s mission will air at 5:30 a.m., before the start of the interviews.

Tani was born in Pennsylvania and considers the Chicago suburb of Lombard, Ill., his hometown. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996. Tani’s biography is available at:

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

NASA’s live interview media outlet channel will be used to conduct the interviews. The channel is located on satellite AMC 6, transponder 5C, located at 72 degrees west, downlink frequency 3785.5 Mhz, vertical polarity, FEC of 3/4th, symbol rate 4.3404 Mbaud.

For information about the space station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station