J.D. Harrington/Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241/1979
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov
michael.j.braukus@nasa.gov
Brandi Dean
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
brandi.k.dean@nasa.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-214
NASA SETS MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERSEA MISSION (UPDATE)
HOUSTON -- Journalists will have the opportunity to cover the 15th
NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, from up close
or afar. The mission was originally scheduled to start Oct. 17, but
tropical storm conditions in the area of the undersea laboratory
required a delay.
Journalists are invited to visit the Mobile Mission Control Center,
which supports the underwater crew of the NEEMO mission aboard the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Aquarius Undersea
Laboratory. The laboratory is located in the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary in Key Largo. Arrangements for reporters to visit
the mobile control center must be made at least one day prior to the
visit by contacting NASA's Johnson Space Center Newsroom in Houston
on 281-483-5111.
On Oct. 24, the NEEMO crew will be available for satellite interviews
from 3 to 4 p.m. CDT. On Oct. 26, astronaut/aquanaut Shannon Walker
will conduct interviews during an underwater simulated spacewalk from
1 to 1:30 p.m. Other interview slots are available on a limited basis
with Walker, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya
Onishi, Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques and
Steven Squyres of Cornell University.
To participate in interview opportunities, reporters should contact
Lynnette Madison at lynnette.b.madison@nasa.gov, or the Johnson Space
Center Newsroom on 281-483-5111, no later than 5 p.m. Oct. 21.
The live satellite interviews will air on NASA's Live Interview Media
Outlet channel. The channel is a digital satellite C-band downlink by
uplink provider Americom. It is on satellite AMC3, transponder (9C,
located 87 degrees west, downlink frequency 3865.5 MHz based on a
standard C-band, horizontal downlink polarity. FEC is 3/4, data rate
is 6.0 Mbps, symbol rate is 4.3404 Msps, transmission DVB-S, 4:2:0.
The interviews also will be simulcast on NASA Television.
The 2011 NEEMO mission will be the first to simulate humans visiting
an asteroid. A six-member crew, led by Walker, will spend 13 days
beneath the surface in the Aquarius habitat, the world's only
underwater laboratory. They will test concepts and techniques for
asteroid exploration.
Other crew members include James Talacek and Nate Bender of the
University of North Carolina in Wilmington.
In addition, NASA astronauts Stan Love, Richard Arnold and Mike
Gernhardt will participate in the mission as pilots of the DeepWorker
submersible, a small submarine that will serve as an underwater
stand-in for the Space Exploration Vehicle, which may someday be used
to explore the surface of an asteroid.
For information about the NEEMO 15 mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/neemo To follow the mission via Twitter, visit:
http://www.twitter.com/NASA_NEEMO For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
