NASA astronauts and scientists will visit the Research Triangle Region in North Carolina May 3-6 to share the accomplishments and opportunities for research aboard the International Space Station.
Veteran space station astronauts Doug Wheelock and Rex Walheim will share their stories about living and working in space, their perspective on space station research opportunities and the special vantage point over Earth that the orbital laboratory provides. Station scientists Tara Ruttley and John Love, and Center for Advancement of Science in Space’s (CASIS) Director of Commercial Innovation Cynthia Bouthot, Commercial Innovation Life Sciences Lead Jana Stoudamire, and Program Manager Debbie Wells also will participate in public events.
On Tuesday, May 3, NASA’s Driven to Explore exhibit will be available for public viewing from 1-6 p.m. EDT at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, 250 East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The mobile, multi-media exhibit immerses visitors in the NASA story and features a moon rock returned to Earth by the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. There also will be a 7 p.m. presentation by Wheelock. Contact Sarah Brown at 919-843-3474 or sarmarie@email.unc.edu to RSVP.
On Wednesday, May 4, the Driven to Explore exhibit will be available for public viewing from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the North Carolina Biotech Center, 15 TW Alexander Drive, in Research Triangle Park. Representatives from NASA and CASIS will highlight the many commercial opportunities the space station provides for researchers at an RSVP-only industry day from 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. At 11 a.m., Wheelock will share insights from his missions to the space station during a presentation. Contact DSRTPMay4RSVP@iss-casis.org to RSVP.
On Thursday, May 5, NASA and CASIS will participate in a Nerd Night event from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at The Frontier, 800 Park Office Drive, in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The Driven to Explore exhibit will be open to the public and Ruttley and Walheim will give presentations at 6:30 and 7 p.m., respectively.
On Friday, May 6, the Driven to Explore exhibit will be open for public viewing from 9 a.m. -3 p.m. at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science at 11 West Jones Street in Raleigh. Walheim will give presentations on his missions to the space station at 12:30 and 1:30 p.m., and Wells will give presentations on commercial use of the station at 1 and 2 p.m.
Additional interview opportunities also are available upon request. Media interested in interviewing NASA personnel should contact Megan Sumner at 281-483-5111 or megan.c.sumner@nasa.gov.
NASA will interact with the public via social media channels using the hashtag #NASAinNC 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:
For more information about CASIS, visit:
For more information about Destination Station, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/destinationstation
Megan Sumner
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
megan.c.sumner@nasa.gov
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