{"id":52173,"date":"2017-08-22T19:38:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T23:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-408150"},"modified":"2023-07-26T15:00:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T19:00:30","slug":"nasa-astronauts-available-for-interviews-before-space-station-mission","status":"publish","type":"press-release","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/news-release\/nasa-astronauts-available-for-interviews-before-space-station-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Astronauts Available for Interviews Before Space Station Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Expedition 53 crew members\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?resize=900,600 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Expedition 53 crew members (from left) NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei will launch to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Sept. 12. They are scheduled to return to Earth in February. <strong>Credits: NASA<\/strong><\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>NASA astronauts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/astronauts\/biographies\/mark-t-vande-hei\">Mark Vande Hei<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/astronauts\/biographies\/joseph-m-acaba\">Joe Acaba<\/a>, who are making final preparations for a Sept. 12 launch to the International Space Station, will be available for live satellite interviews at 7 and 9 a.m. EDT, respectively, on Friday, Sept. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Live from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, the interviews will air on NASA Television and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/live\">agency\u2019s website<\/a>. At 7:30 a.m., NASA TV will also run a video feed of highlights from the astronauts\u2019 training mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To interview the astronauts, media must contact Sarah Volkman at 281-483-9071 or <a href=\"mailto:sarah.e.volkman@nasa.gov\">sarah.e.volkman@nasa.gov<\/a> for Vande Hei and Karen Svetaka at 281-483-8684 or karen.a.svetaka@nasa.gov for Acaba no later than 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30. Media participating in the interviews must tune to the NASA TV Media Channel (NTV-3). Satellite tuning information is available at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/go.nasa.gov\/1pOWUhR\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/go.nasa.gov\/1pOWUhR<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Acaba and Vande Hei will arrive at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday, Sept. 6, for final pre-launch training. They and their crewmate, veteran cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, will launch on the Russian Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft at 5:17 p.m. on Sept. 12. They are scheduled to return to Earth in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The flight plan calls for an arrival at the station about six hours after launch, where they will join Expedition 53 Commander Randy Bresnik of NASA, and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos and Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency). The crew members will continue several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science currently underway and scheduled to take place aboard humanity\u2019s only permanently occupied orbiting lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the experiments is Functional Immune, which analyzes blood and saliva samples to determine changes taking place in crew members\u2019 immune systems during flight. Results are expected to provide new insight into the possible health risks of long-duration space travel, including future missions to deep space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Acaba was born in Inglewood, California, and grew up in Anaheim, California. He earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in geology at the University of California in Santa Barbara, one master\u2019s degree in geology from the University of Arizona, and one in education, curriculum and instruction from Texas Tech University. Before coming to NASA, he spent time in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves and the Peace Corps, worked as a hydro-geologist and taught high school and middle school. This will be Acaba\u2019s third trip to the space station and his second long-duration mission. He was selected as an astronaut in 2004, and flew aboard space shuttle Discovery in 2009. He returned to the station for a longer stay in 2012, as part of Expedition 31 and 32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From Falls Church, Virginia, Vande Hei earned a bachelor\u2018s degree in physics from Saint John\u2019s University and a Master\u2019s of Science in applied physics from Stanford University. Prior to becoming an astronaut, he was commissioned in the U.S. Army through the ROTC program and served as a combat engineer. Vande Hei served as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) in NASA Johnson Space Center\u2019s Mission Control Center in Houston for Expeditions 15 through 20 and space shuttle missions STS-122, 123, 124, 126 and 127 before being selected as an astronaut in 2009. This will be his first spaceflight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Find Acaba\u2019s and Vande Hei\u2019s full biographies at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/astronauts\/biographies\/active\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow Vande Hei on Twitter at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a class=\"twitter-timeline\" data-width=\"500\" data-height=\"750\" data-dnt=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Astro_Sabot?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"noopener\">Tweets by Astro_Sabot<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow Acaba on Twitter at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/AstroAcaba\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/AstroAcaba<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about the International Space Station and its crews at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/station\"><strong>https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/station<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>-end-<\/p>\n\n\n<p>Cheryl Warner<br \/>\nHeadquarters, Washington<br \/>\n202-358-1100<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov\">cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov<\/a><br \/>\nMegan Sumner<br \/>\nJohnson Space Center, Houston<br \/>\n281-483-5111<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:megan.c.sumner@nasa.gov\">megan.c.sumner@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba, who are making final preparations for a Sept. 12 launch to the International Space Station, will be available for live satellite interviews at 7 and 9 a.m. EDT, respectively, on Friday, Sept. 1. Live from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, the interviews will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":54200,"template":"","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"M17-095","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"MEDIA ADVISORY","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[]},"categories":[2800,8358,2735,2861,2867],"news-tags":[12348],"internal-terms":[9513,9508],"coauthors":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"NASA Astronauts Available for Interviews Before Space Station Mission","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/news-release\/nasa-astronauts-available-for-interviews-before-space-station-mission\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/news-release\/nasa-astronauts-available-for-interviews-before-space-station-mission\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg"},"articleSection":"Humans in Space","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NASA"}],"creator":["NASA"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["NASA Centers & Facilities","NASA Headquarters","Astronauts","Expedition 52","International Space Station (ISS)","Johnson Space Center"],"dateCreated":"2017-08-22T23:38:00Z","datePublished":"2017-08-22T23:38:00Z","dateModified":"2023-07-26T19:00:30Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"NASA Astronauts Available for Interviews Before Space Station Mission\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/news-release\/nasa-astronauts-available-for-interviews-before-space-station-mission\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2017-08-22T23:38:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"Humans in Space\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"NASA Centers & Facilities,NASA Headquarters,Astronauts,Expedition 52,International Space Station (ISS),Johnson Space Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"NASA\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":4,"featured_image":{"id":54200,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/m17-095_0.jpg","title":"m17-095_0","alt":"Expedition 53 crew members","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/52173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/52173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370195,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/52173\/revisions\/370195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52173"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=52173"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=52173"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=52173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}