Although many a shot was launched to the bleachers from Shea Stadium’s home plate, the plate itself has beat them all — it returns home next week along with New York native son and NASA astronaut Mike Massimino after a 5.2 million-mile trip in space.
Massimino will be in New York July 30-31 to share his recent adventure as a member of the final mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. During the May flight, he conducted two spacewalks to work on the telescope and also became the first person to “tweet” from orbit, providing insights to his twitter account, @Astro_Mike, for a half-million followers. His visit home will be capped by throwing out the first pitch at the New York Mets game July 31, at which he will return the Shea Stadium home plate. During his visit, Massimino will be available for media interviews. Details of his appearances include:
Thursday, July 30
11 a.m. — Massimino will be the keynote speaker at the Intrepid Museum’s summer youth leadership conference.
3 p.m. — Massimino will visit the New York City Fire Museum to present an American flag flown to the Hubble telescope in honor of 9/11 firefighter victims and families. Massimino’s father was a New York Fire Department fire inspector.
Friday, July 31
10:30 a.m. — Massimino will make an educational presentation at the New York Public Library. 1 p.m. — Massimino will visit the New York Hall of Science Rocket Mini Golf Park to provide presentations to visitors and staff. At each appearance, Massimino will be available to sign autographs.
7:10 p.m. — Massimino will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the New York Met’s game and return the Shea Stadium home plate. Prior to the game, he will be available for media interviews.
To schedule an interview or for more information about his appearances, contact Cassandra Miranda, 281-483-8618 or cassandra.v.miranda@nasa.gov.
Massimino’s hometown is Franklin Square, New York. He is married with two children and enjoys baseball, family activities, camping and coaching kids’ sports. He has a B.S. in industrial engineering from Columbia University, and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1996, he is a veteran of two space flights, logging a total of 571 hours and 47 minutes in space, including 30 hours, 4 minutes spacewalking.
For more about NASA and its programs, visit: www.nasa.gov
For complete biographical information on Massimino and other astronaut information, visit: www.nasa.gov/astronauts
