[sarex] Astronaut Suni Williams Available for Interviews

[Arthur Rowe]

Arthur Rowe wrote: REVISED
>> SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
>>
>>> June 26, 2007
>>>
>>> John Yembrick
>>> Headquarters, Washington
>>> 202-358-3749
>>>
>>> James Hartsfield
>>> Johnson Space Center, Houston
>>> 281/483-5111
>>> RECORD-BREAKING ASTRONAUT SUNI WILLIAMS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS
>>>
>>> HOUSTON - NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who returned to Earth last 
>>> week after the longest space voyage ever by a woman, will be 
>>> available for satellite interviews on NASA Television from 5:30 - 8 
>>> a.m. CDT Friday, June 29.
>>>
>>> Williams spent 195 days in space, 190 of them as a flight engineer 
>>> aboard the International Space Station. Although this was her first 
>>> spaceflight, Williams also broke the record for most hours outside a 
>>> spacecraft by a woman after completing four spacewalks with a total 
>>> time of 29 hours, 17 minutes.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Williams launched on space shuttle Discovery's STS-116 mission in 
>>> December 2006. She then joined the Expedition 14 crew aboard the 
>>> station and stayed on the complex to become a member of the 
>>> Expedition 15 crew in April. She came home on space shuttle 
>>> Atlantis' STS-117 mission that landed at Edwards Air Force Base, 
>>> Calif. on Friday, June 22.
>>>
>>> During her stay on orbit, Williams worked with experiments across a 
>>> wide variety of fields, including human life sciences, physical 
>>> sciences and Earth observation. She also performed education and 
>>> technology demonstrations. The experiments conducted by Williams 
>>> will help pave the way for future spaceflights.
>>>
>>> "The six months that astronauts spend on the International Space 
>>> Station is analogous to the six months they would spend in transit 
>>> to get to Mars," said Dr. J.D. Polk, chief of NASA's Medical 
>>> Operations Branch at Johnson. "Suni's work on the life sciences 
>>> experiments, and indeed Suni herself by virtue of her physiologic 
>>> data, give us keen insight that will be needed for exploration 
>>> beyond Earth."
>>>
>>> Williams' time on the station was not all work. In April, she became 
>>> the first person officially to run a marathon in space, 
>>> participating in the 2007 Boston Marathon.
>>> "It is so great to see more and more astronauts, both female and 
>>> male, having the privilege to live for extended periods in space," 
>>> said astronaut Shannon Lucid, the previous holder of the female 
>>> space endurance record. "These flights are providing the needed 
>>> confidence so that some day in the near future we can depart low 
>>> Earth orbit and head on out to Mars."
>>>
>>> Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio, and grew up in Needham, Mass., 
>>> near Boston. She is a commander in the U.S. Navy and was selected as 
>>> an astronaut candidate in 1998.
>>> Williams' biography is available on the Internet at:
>>>
>>> http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/williams-s.html
>>> For more information about NASA, visit:
>>>
>>> http://www.nasa.gov
>>>
>>>     -end-
>>>
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>>>   
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