Mission Control Center
Houston, Texas

STS-135 MCC Status Report No. 12
Thursday, July 14, 2011, 12:30 a.m. CDT

Flight day 7 of the STS-135 mission started out with a serenade for the crew
of space shuttle Atlantis.

In a special message recorded before launch from Venice, Italy, Michael
Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M., sang an A capella version of the band's song
"Man on the Moon," then followed it with a greeting to the astronauts.

"Good morning, Atlantis," he said. "This is Michael Stipe from R.E.M. We
wish you much success on your mission, and thank all the women and men at
NASA who have worked on shuttle for three decades. From Earth, a very good
morning to you."

More unpacking of the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module is on tap
today for Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission
Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim. But they'll also take some time
out for a few special events.

At 5:59 a.m., Ferguson and Magnus will be speaking with reporters from Fox
News Radio and KTVI-TV and KSDK-TV in St. Louis. Then, at 8:19 a.m., the
entire crew will be interviewed by WBBM-TV in Chicago, KTVU-TV in Oakland,
Calif., and WTXF-TV in Philadelphia.

In addition, both the shuttle and station crews will have the opportunity to
enjoy an "All-American Meal" of barbecue brisket or grilled chicken and
baked beans, southwestern corn and apple pie, and the public is invited to
share in it, virtually. Visit http://go.nasa.gov/AllAmericanMeal for
recipes, or "formulations" as they're called by NASA food scientists, as
well as more information, video and imagery.

The shuttle and station crews' midday meals are scheduled to begin at 7:19
a.m.

The next status report will be issued at the end of the crew's day or
earlier if warranted. The crew is scheduled to go to sleep just before 3:30
p.m.