STS-119 Commander Lee Archambault, Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Steven Swanson and Richard Arnold will visit NASA’s Glenn Research Center on Wednesday, May 6. Arnold, a former teacher, conducted two spacewalks during the STS-119 mission in March, his first journey into space. He and his crewmates will provide an educational presentation to approximately 450 local middle
school students.
STS-119 was the 28th shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Shuttle Discovery and its crew delivered the space station’s fourth and final set of solar array wings, completing the station’s truss, or backbone. The additional electricity provided by the arrays fully powers science experiments and helps support station operations. Discovery glided to a perfect touchdown at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:14 p.m., March 28, successfully
completing a 13-day journey of more than 5.3 million miles.
Between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. the astronauts will conduct an educational briefing to middle school students. Attending are three NASA Explorer Schools: General Johnny Wilson Middle School, Lorain; Luis Munoz Marin Middle School, Cleveland; and Warrensville Middle School, Warrensville Heights. Other schools attending are Cleveland School of the Arts and Memorial Junior High School, Cleveland, and Garfield Elementary School, Lorain.
The astronauts will be available for interviews immediately following the briefing.
Media representatives interested in covering the event should contact Jeannette Owens at 216-433-2990 or the Media Relations Office at 216-433-2901, by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, to arrange security clearance onto the center.
For information about STS-119 and the Space Shuttle Program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle