Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-3749


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


MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-166


BALTIMORE NATIVE TO DISCUSS ROLE ON NASA'S NEXT SHUTTLE FLIGHT


Bob Curbeam, a NASA astronaut who will fly aboard the Space Shuttle
Discovery in December, will be available for interviews by satellite
from 7 to 8:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 24.


To participate in the interviews, media should contact the NASA
Johnson Space Center newsroom in Houston at 281-483-5111 by 5 p.m.
EDT Monday, Oct. 23.


Curbeam will be making his third spaceflight after performing duties
as a mission specialist on two previous missions, STS-85 in 1997 and
STS-98 in 2001. He will be conducting three spacewalks during the
11-day mission to the International Space Station to rearrange the
complex's power and cooling systems. The changes will bring online
electricity generated by a second giant set of solar panels added to
the station during September's shuttle mission. The changes will
almost double the electrical power available to the station's
systems.


Curbeam was born and raised in Baltimore. He received a bachelor's
degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Md., in 1984 and a master's degree in aeronautical
engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif., in
1990. He also received a degree in aeronautical and astronautical
engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1991. Before his
selection as an astronaut in 1994, Curbeam was an instructor in the
Weapons and Systems Engineering Department at the Naval Academy.


Curbeam will be joined aboard Discovery by STS-116 Commander Mark
Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and mission specialists Joan
Higginbotham, Nick Patrick, Suni Williams and Christer Fuglesang, a
European Space Agency astronaut. Williams will remain aboard the
station for six months. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas
Reiter, currently aboard the station, will return to Earth on
Discovery.


For Curbeam's biographical information, visit:


http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/curbeam.html


Curbeam'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. B-roll video of
Curbeam's training for the mission will air at 6:30 a.m. EDT. For
NASA TV downlink, schedules and streaming video information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv


For more information about STS-116 and its crew, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle