[sarex] Alaska Native to Discuss Role as Pilot of NASA's Next Shuttle

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
> Oct. 24, 2006
>
> Katherine Trinidad
> Headquarters, Washington 
> 202-358-3749
>
> James Hartsfield
> Johnson Space Center, Houston
> 281-483-5111 
>
>
> ALASKA NATIVE TO DISCUSS ROLE AS PILOT OF NASA'S NEXT SHUTTLE
>
> Alaska native and former float plane pilot Bill Oefelein, who will 
> serve as pilot of the Space Shuttle Discovery in December, will be 
> available for interviews by satellite from 5:30 to 7 p.m. EDT Friday, 
> Oct. 27.
>
>
> Oefelein, a U.S. Navy commander, considers Anchorage, Alaska, his 
> hometown. He credits his youth in Alaska with helping foster his 
> interest in flying. While there, he obtained a private pilot's 
> license with a float plane rating. He went on to become a Navy 
> fighter and test pilot. Oefelein has logged more than 3,000 hours in 
> 50 different types of aircraft.
>
> Oefelein received a bachelor's from Oregon State University, 
> Corvallis, Ore., and a master's from the University of Tennessee 
> Space Institute, Knoxville, Tenn.
>
> He will be making his first spaceflight on Discovery on STS-116, an 
> 11-day mission to the International Space Station. The mission will 
> rearrange the complex's power and cooling systems to bring online 
> electricity generated by new solar arrays delivered to the station in 
> September. 
>
> Along with Oefelein, Discovery's crew includes STS-116 Commander Mark 
> Polansky and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, 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 Oefelein's biographical information, visit: 
>
> http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/oefelein.html  
>
> The interviews and b-roll of Oefelein's training will be broadcast on 
> the NASA-TV Media Channel (No. 103). In the continental U.S., NASA TV 
> is carried on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, 
> at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical 
> polarization. In Alaska and Hawaii, NASA TV is carried on an MPEG-2 
> digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-7, at 137 degrees west 
> longitude, transponder 18C, 4060 MHz, vertical polarization. 
>
> The video footage of training will air at 5 p.m. EDT on Oct. 27. 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
>
>
>
>