The next three crewmembers scheduled to launch to the
International Space Station will talk with reporters during
a news conference at 3 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Aug. 14 at the
Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston. The news conference
will be broadcast live on NASA Television with question-and-
answer capability for reporters at participating NASA
centers.
The crew includes the NASA astronaut and the Russian
cosmonaut who will stay aboard the Station as members of
Expedition 8: Expedition Commander and NASA/Station Science
Officer Michael Foale and Soyuz Commander Alexander Kaleri.
European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain is also
traveling to the Space Station.
The crew begins training soon at JSC in preparation for
their October 18 launch aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-3
spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Foale and Kaleri plan to spend about 200 days aboard the
Space Station. Duque will spend eight days on the complex
conducting a series of independent science investigations,
through a contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and
Space Agency, Rosaviakosmos. Duque will return to Earth Oct.
28 with Expedition 7 crewmembers Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu,
who have been aboard the Station since late April.
Reporters interested in conducting one-on-one round-robin
interviews with the crewmembers should contact the JSC
newsroom (281/483-5111) by 5 p.m. EDT Aug. 12. Interviews
may be conducted in person or by phone, and will not be
broadcast on NASA TV.
NASA Television is broadcast on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-
Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is
3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical and audio is monaural
at 6.80 MHz.
For information about NASA TV on the Internet, visit: