Public Invited to View Launch of Local Astronaut on July 14

CLEVELAND – NASA’s Glenn Research Center is participating in a celebration and viewing of the launch of Cleveland native NASA astronaut Sunita Williams aboard a Soyuz spacecraft as it launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. The event is free and open to the public.

Attendees may start arriving at 8 p.m. EDT at St. Mary’s Church, 15519 Holmes Avenue, Cleveland. At 9 p.m. NASA astronaut Mike Foreman, of Wadsworth, Ohio, will give a presentation and provide commentary leading up to the launch planned for 10:30 p.m. There will be NASA exhibits, refreshments and Expedition 32 and 33 T-shirts available for purchase.

Also aboard the Soyuz rocket will be Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federation Space Agency. The team will join the Expedition 32 crew already on space station, and Williams will take over as commander of Expedition 33 once the Expedition 32 crew undocks from station in September.

For further information about Williams, visit: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/williams-s.html

For more about NASA Glenn Research Center, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/glenn