NASA astronaut William “Bill” McArthur will make several stops in North Carolina Oct. 24-26 for his first tour of his home state since returning from the International Space Station in April 2006.
McArthur lived and worked on the orbiting space station, about 200 miles up, for more than six months with his Russian counterpart Valery Tokarev. The two returned to Earth April 8, landing in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan. McArthur’s first visit will be Oct. 24 at the North Carolina School of Science and Math, where he will give three presentations to students on his experience as commander of the 12th expeditionary crew on the station. The public presentation will start at 6:15 p.m. and will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
His itinerary also includes the following events, which are open to the media:
Oct. 25
McNair Elementary School
7556 Honeycutt Road
Fort Bragg.
Presentation will start at 1 p.m.
Robeson Planetarium and Science Center 420 Caton Road, Lumberton
Public presentation at 9:15 p.m.
Oct. 26 School visits with Congressman Michael McIntyre
Southeastern Academy, Peterson Elementary and Red Springs High School in Red Springs
McArthur’s visit culminates with a parade, the “Key to the City” presentation, a town resolution declaring Oct. 26 “Bill McArthur Day” and a Congressional Tribute by Congressman McIntyre. The parade will start on Main Street in Red Springs and end at the Red Springs Historical Museum, 225 South Main St., Red Springs. All events are open to the public and the media. Selected by NASA in January 1990, McArthur became an astronaut in July 1991. A veteran of four spaceflights, McArthur has logged 224 days in space, including 24 hours in four spacewalks.
For more information about McArthur, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/mcarthur.html
For more information on the International Space Station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
For more information on NASA, visit:
