NASA astronauts and scientists will visit Chicago Aug. 16-21 to share the accomplishments and opportunities for research aboard the International Space Station.

Veteran space station astronauts Mike Fossum and Steve Bowen will share their stories about living and working in space, their perspectives on space station research opportunities and the special vantage point over Earth that the orbital laboratory provides. Station scientists Pete Hasbrook, Lakita Lowe, Joel Montalbano and Roger Weiss, and Center for Advancement of Science in Space’s (CASIS) Director of Commercial Innovation Cynthia Bouthot and Commercial Innovation Life Sciences Lead Jana Stoudamire also will participate in a variety of public events.

On Wednesday, Aug. 17, Bowen will throw out the first pitch at the Chicago Cubs baseball game, while on Thursday, Aug. 18, he will make a presentation at the Adler Planetarium during the Adler After Dark: Camp Adler event. The event is open to the public (ages 21 and up) and tickets must be purchased for admission. To attend, visit the planetarium website http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/.

From Saturday, Aug. 20 through Sunday, Aug. 21, NASA’s Driven to Explore exhibit will be available for public viewing at the Chicago Air and Water Show from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The Chicago Air and Water Show is the largest free exhibition of its kind in the United States and can be viewed along the lakefront from Fullerton to Oak Street, with North Avenue Beach as the focal point.

Additional interview opportunities also are available upon request. Media interested in interviewing NASA personnel should contact Isidro Reyna at 281-483-5111 or isidro.r.reyna@nasa.gov.

NASA will interact with the public via social media channels using the hashtags #NASAinChi and #ChiAirAndWater during the week. Social media users are encouraged to tag @NASA_Johnson, @ISS_Research and @ISS_CASIS.

For more information about the astronauts, visit: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio.html

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:  http://www.nasa.gov/station

For more information about CASIS, visit: http://www.iss-casis.org

For more information about Destination Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/destinationstation