Melissa Motichek<br />Headquarters, Washington June 16, 2003<br />(Phone: 202/358-1272)<br /><br /><br />Kelly Humphries<br />Johnson Space Center, Houston<br />(Phone: 281/483-5111)<br /><br /><br />Jana Goldman<br />National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration<br />(Phone: 301/713-2483)<br /><br /><br />RELEASE: 03-198<br /><br /><br />NASA SPACE VETERAN LEADS UNDERSEA CREW<br /><br /><br /> For the first time, an astronaut with months of <br />experience in space will compare that time to life <br />underwater. Peggy Whitson, an International Space Station <br />veteran, is commanding a NASA crew spending two weeks living <br />on the ocean floor.<br /><br /><br />Whitson, who called the Space Station home for six months <br />last year, is joined by astronauts Clay Anderson and Garret <br />Reisman and scientist Emma Hwang for a NASA Extreme <br />Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission June 16-29. <br />The quartet will serve as the NASA members of a crew living <br />in the Aquarius Underwater Research Facility off the coast of <br />Key Largo, Fla. in the Florida Keys National Marine <br />Sanctuary.<br /><br /><br />"NEEMO 5, our next-generation mission, goes beyond the bounds <br />of space analog experience and will attempt to answer several <br />significant scientific questions about long duration <br />isolation in extreme environments," said Bill Todd, NEEMO <br />project manager at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston. <br />"We have ratcheted up the isolation factor, complexity and <br />science objectives to a level that closely parallels a space <br />mission experience. And the science we are performing may <br />very well help answer several critical path questions on our <br />road map for journeying to Mars and beyond," Todd said.<br /><br /><br />NEEMO missions are a cooperative project of NASA, the <br />National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), <br />the National Undersea Research Center, and the University of <br />North Carolina at Wilmington (UNC-W). <br /><br /><br />Aquarius, the only undersea research laboratory in the world, <br />owned by NOAA and managed by UNC-W, is similar in size to the <br />Space Station's living quarters, the Zvezda Service Module. <br />The crew will use the undersea habitat as practice for long-<br />duration space habitation and to build undersea structures <br />simulating Space Station assembly activities. They will also <br />conduct scientific research on the human body and coral reef <br />environments. The 45-foot long by 13-foot diameter underwater <br />laboratory operates three miles off Key Largo. It sits on the <br />ocean floor, about 62 feet beneath the surface, near deep <br />coral reefs.<br /><br /><br />A surface life support buoy provides Aquarius with power, <br />air, and communications, allowing scientists to live and work <br />in reasonably comfortable quarters, and a shore-based <br />"mission control" in Florida and a control room at JSC <br />monitor crew activities.<br /><br /><br />The aquanauts plan to discuss their mission with the crew of <br />the International Space Station, Commander Yuri Malenchenko <br />and NASA Station Science Officer Ed Lu, during a ship-to-ship <br />linkup tentatively planned for 12:25 p.m. EDT on June 25.<br /><br /><br />An opportunity for media to interview the crew of NEEMO 5 is <br />available from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. EDT, June 25. A second <br />opportunity is available June 26 from 3 to 4 p.m. EDT. Media <br />interested in conducting audio or video interviews with the <br />crew should contact the JSC Newsroom at: 281/483-5111 no <br />later than noon EDT, Tuesday, June 24.<br /><br /><br />The NEEMO 5 crew will also participate in six educational <br />"point-to-point" videoconferences and a Web chat during the <br />mission. Students in Titonka, Iowa; Jersey City, N.J.; Omaha, <br />Neb.; Nashville, Tenn.; Charlotte, N.C.; Honolulu; Milford, <br />Mass.; Austin, Texas; and Seattle will participate in various <br />educational events. The Web chat, a cooperative effort of <br />JSC's Distance Learning Outpost and NASA's Ames Research <br />Center Quest project, is at 2:30 p.m. EDT, June 19. <br />Information about the Web chat is available on the Internet, <br />at:<br /><br /><br />http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/projects/space/aquarius/2003/june.h<br />tml<br /><br /><br />For information about NASA on the Internet, visit:<br /><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov<br /><br /><br />For information about the NEEMO project on the Internet, <br />visit:<br /><br /><br />http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/support/training/neemo/ne<br />emo5.html<br /><br /><br />For information about Aquarius on the Internet, visit:<br /><br /><br />http://www.uncwil.edu/nurc/aquarius/