The crew of the International Space Station will field questions from reporters during an in-flight news conference at 11 a.m. EDT, Friday, July 8. The crew is awaiting next week’s arrival of the first Space Shuttle visit in more than two years,
The 25-minute news conference will be live on NASA TV. Media at participating NASA centers may ask questions.
Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips have been aboard the Station since April 17. They have been preparing for the arrival of the Shuttle’s seven-member crew, which is scheduled to launch aboard Discovery on July 13.
Discovery will dock with the Station on the mission’s third day, bringing several tons of supplies and spare parts. During eight days of joint activities, three spacewalks will be conducted by the Shuttle crew to test heat shield repair techniques, replace a Station gyroscope and in preparation to resume assembly of the orbiting complex.
Krikalev and Phillips are almost in the third month of a planned six-month mission. On Aug. 16, Krikalev will surpass the record for most cumulative time spent in space by any person, having accumulated more than 749 days on six space flights.
NASA TV is carried on the Web and on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. It’s available in Alaska and Hawaii on AMC-7, at 137 degrees west longitude, transponder 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder is required for reception. The news conference will be live on the Internet at:
