NASA
NASA BRINGS THE FUTURE OF EXPLORATION TO OSHKOSH AIRVENTURE 2006
NASA will take visitors to the moon, Mars and beyond at the country's biggest annual air show, held in Oshkosh, Wis., July 24-30.
NASA scientists, engineers, educators, and communicators will be on hand at the Experimental Aircraft Association's Airventure 2006 to provide a glimpse of the future in an exhibit that has universal appeal, literally.
Outside the NASA building at Airventure, visitors will be able to check out a full-scale space shuttle engine that weighs more than 17,000 pounds. The engine is about the size of a recreational vehicle. There also will be a 30-foot tall model of the heavy-lift rocket proposed for the future Cargo Launch Vehicle, and interactive demonstrations.
Inside the facility NASA will feature a full-scale mock-up of
America's next space capsule, the Crew Exploration Vehicle. The
exhibit will help visitors understand how NASA plans to send
astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit. Included will be holographic
astronauts to introduce the Constellation program. Constellation is
the combination of large and small systems that will provide the
capabilities necessary for travel and exploration of the solar
system.
No presentation at an air show would be complete without a look at
NASA's contributions to aeronautics. Exhibits will feature a number
of NASA-developed aviation technologies and a special education area
will allow youngsters to make and keep their own paper airplanes,
rotorcraft and straw rockets.
Other displays will allow Airventure visitors to have their photograph
taken in a spacesuit or see images coming back from space by way of
the Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA will take visitors to the moon, Mars and beyond at the country's
biggest annual air show, held in Oshkosh, Wis., July 24-30.
NASA employees will share their expertise at Airventure 2006.
Aerospace craftspeople will be there to reveal mysteries of science
and to show how they create the experiments that have propelled
America forward as a leader in new air and space technologies.
NASA representatives also will give presentations throughout the show
at various Airventure pavilions. Speakers will include engineers, a
test pilot, and veteran space shuttle commander Scott Horowitz.
Horowitz is NASA's associate administrator for the Exploration
Systems Mission Directorate, Washington.
NASA ASSIGNS CREW FOR COLUMBUS SHUTTLE MISSION
NASA has assigned crew members to the space shuttle mission that will
deliver the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory to the
International Space Station.
A veteran space flier, Navy Cmdr. Stephen N. Frick, will command the
STS-122 shuttle mission to deliver the lab to the station. Navy Cmdr.
Alan G. Poindexter will serve as pilot. Mission specialists include
Air Force Col. Rex J. Walheim, Stanley G. Love, Leland D. Melvin and
European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel. Poindexter, Love and
Melvin will be making their first spaceflight.
STS-122 will be Frick's second spaceflight. A native of Gibsonia, Pa.,
he served as pilot of shuttle mission STS-110, a flight to the
station in 2002. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy,
Annapolis, Md., and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey,
Calif. Poindexter, a Pasadena, Calif., native, also has a master's
from the Naval Postgraduate School and a bachelor's from the Georgia
Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
Walheim, who considers San Carlos, Calif., his hometown, also flew on
shuttle mission STS-110 in 2002 and is a veteran of two spacewalks.
He has a bachelor's from the University of California, Berkeley, and
a master's from the University of Houston. Melvin is a native of
Lynchburg, Va., and has a bachelor's from the University of Richmond
and a master's from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
Love, a Eugene, Ore., native, has a bachelor's from Harvey Mudd
College, Claremont, Calif., and a master's and doctorate from the
University of Washington. Schlegel, a native of Aachen, Germany, has
a master's degree from the University of Aachen. His first flight was
on shuttle mission STS-55 in 1993.
Video of the STS-122 crew members will air on NASA TV's Video File.
Video File airs on the Media Channel (Program 103) at 6-8 and 9-11
a.m.; 12-2 and 4-7 p.m.; and 10 p.m.-midnight. All times are Eastern.
For NASA TV downlink and scheduling information and links to
streaming video, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For complete astronaut biographical information, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios
For more information about NASA's Space Shuttle Program, visit:
http//:www.nasa.gov/shuttle
