INTERVIEWS SET WITH NASA'S STEPHANIE WILSON OF NEXT SHUTTLE CREW

March 29, 2006

Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-4769

James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(281) 483-5111

MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-054

INTERVIEWS SET WITH NASA'S STEPHANIE WILSON OF NEXT SHUTTLE CREW

Massachusetts native and Harvard graduate Stephanie Wilson, the
astronaut who will operate the robotic arm during the next space
shuttle flight, is available for satellite interviews from 5 p.m. to
7 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 4.

To participate, media should contact NASA's Johnson Space Center
newsroom at (281) 483-5111, no later than 11 a.m. EDT April 4.
Wilson's interviews will be carried live on the NASA TV analog
satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 5C, 3800
MHz, vertical polarization, with audio at 6.8 MHz.

Born in Boston, Wilson graduated from high school in Pittsfield, Mass.
She earned a bachelor's degree in engineering science from Harvard
University, Cambridge, Mass. Wilson received a master's in aerospace
engineering from the University of Texas in Austin. She began her
NASA career at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif., working with the team operating the Galileo spacecraft, which
explored Jupiter. She was selected as an astronaut in 1996.

Space Shuttle Discovery's mission to the International Space Station,
designated STS-121, will be Wilson's first space flight. During the
mission, she will operate the shuttle's and station's robotic arms to
support assembly tasks and spacewalks. Discovery is targeted for
launch no earlier than July 1. The mission will continue the
evaluation of flight safety procedures, including shuttle inspection
and repair techniques.

Wilson will fly with Commander Steve Lindsey, pilot Mark Kelly and
mission specialists Piers Sellers, Mike Fossum and Lisa Nowak.
European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter is also part of the
crew and will remain on the station for several months.

For information about the STS-121 mission on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle



For more information about Wilson, visit the NASA astronaut biography
Web site:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios



For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.nl