STS-135 Press releases

#60 by jacqmans on 20 Jul, 2011 05:16
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-151

NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE SCHEDULED TO RETURN TO EARTH FOR FINAL TIME THURSDAY

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The final flight of NASA's 30-year-old space
shuttle program is scheduled to end on Thursday, July 21, when
Atlantis and its STS-135 crew return to Earth. The landing at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in Florida marks the completion of a 13-day
mission to supply the International Space Station for the
post-shuttle era.

Thursday's Kennedy landing opportunities are at 5:56 a.m. and 7:32
a.m. EDT. Atlantis' entry flight control team, led by Flight Director
Tony Ceccacci, will evaluate weather conditions at the landing site
before giving approval to Atlantis to return. If the shuttle is
unable to come home Thursday, additional opportunities are available
on Friday at Kennedy and at the backup landing site, Edwards Air
Force Base in California. Recorded updates about landing are
available at 321-867-2525.

Journalists are invited to cover news briefings and special events to
commemorate the historic event. To cover landing at the Shuttle
Landing Facility (SLF) runway, reporters must sign up at Kennedy's
press site for transportation. NASA will accommodate as many news
media representatives as possible, but the number is limited because
of safety requirements.

At about 7:45 a.m., NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and STS-135
Commander Chris Ferguson will make comments at the shuttle runway.
The remarks will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the
agency's website.

From about 8 - 9 a.m. on Thursday, following the astronaut's departure
from the shuttle runway, a limited number of journalists at the SLF
will be allowed near Atlantis for a photo opportunity and comments
from Bolden and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana. Interested
journalists must e-mail Allard Beutel [email protected] by 5
p.m. Wednesday. Space is limited.

At 10 a.m., NASA officials will hold a briefing at Kennedy's press
site to discuss Atlantis' STS-135 mission. The event will be
broadcast live on NASA TV and the agency's website. The participants
will be:

- Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations,
NASA Headquarters
- Bob Cabana, director, Kennedy Space Center
- Mike Moses, space shuttle launch integration manager
- Mike Leinbach, space shuttle launch director

Also at about 10 a.m., Atlantis will be towed from the runway and
parked outside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 (OPF-2) for several
hours to give employees an opportunity to walk around and photograph
the shuttle. Reporters interested in covering the move must sign up
at the press site for transportation to the photo opportunity
locations. These events will not be carried live on NASA TV.

At 11:45 a.m., Bolden and Cabana will host an employee appreciation
event outside OPF-2. Journalists can cover the event from a
designated media area near the main stage. News media representatives
interested in covering the event must sign up at the press site for
transportation. The event will be broadcast live on NASA TV and the
agency's website.

At about noon, following opening comments at the employee event, the
STS-135 crew is expected to participate in a post-landing news
conference from the press site. The astronauts' availability is
subject to change. Immediately after a 20 minute media
question-and-answer session, the astronauts will go to the employee
appreciation event to talk briefly to the work force. The events will
be broadcast live on NASA TV and the agency's website.

The Kennedy press site will open for shuttle Atlantis' landing at 8
a.m. Wednesday and remain open until 6:30 p.m. Thursday. News media
representatives approved for STS-135 mission badges can pick them up
at NASA's Pass and Identification Building on State Road 3 on
Wednesday from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. and Thursday from 2 - 4 a.m. The last
bus will depart from the press site for the SLF about one hour before
landing.

If the shuttle landing is diverted to Edwards after Thursday,
reporters should call the public affairs office at NASA's Dryden
Flight Research Center at 661-276-3449 for access. Dryden has limited
facilities available for previously accredited journalists.

If Atlantis lands Thursday, it will have spent 307 days in space and
traveled nearly 126 million miles during its 33 flights. Atlantis
launched on its first mission on Oct. 3, 1985. For the latest
information about the STS-135 mission and accomplishments, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

The NASA News Twitter feed is updated throughout the shuttle mission
and landing. To follow, visit:

http://www.twitter.com/NASA

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming
video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
#61 by jacqmans on 20 Jul, 2011 05:17
STS-135 MCC Status Report #23 HOUSTON – Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station early Tuesday, marking the end of shuttle visits to the orbiting laboratory that owes much of its existence to the 37 flights they made to help build and maintain it.

The 1:28 a.m. undocking ended an Atlantis stay at the station of eight days, 15 hours and 21 minutes. All in all, Atlantis and its sister shuttles spent a total of 276 days, 11 hours and 23 minutes docked at the station.

After undocking, Atlantis moved slowly away, to a point about 600 feet ahead of the station, Pilot Doug Hurley paused Atlantis before beginning a final fly around that was in some ways a first. Before Atlantis began the half loop around the station, the orbiting laboratory changed its orientation by rotating 90 degrees to the right.

That gave Atlantis video and still cameras a chance to photograph areas of the station not normally documented in previous fly-arounds. The images will be evaluated by experts on the ground to get additional information on the station’s conditions.

Teams in both flight control rooms were working their last shuttle shift. Atlantis Commander Chris Ferguson thanked the orbit 1 team of shuttle flight controllers. He urged them to pause a moment on their way out and “make a memory.”

From the station flight control room, astronaut and Capcom Dan Tani, himself a former station crew member, told Ferguson that it had been “a pleasure and an honor” to support the mission. “We are proud to be the last of a countless line of mission control teams” who have watched while shuttles visited the ISS. “The ISS wouldn’t be here without the shuttle.”

“It’s been an incredible ride”, replied Ferguson. “On behalf of the four of us, we’re really appreciative we had the opportunity to work with you on this pivotal mission.”

After completing the half loop, Atlantis did two separation burns, the second at 3:18 a.m. to move away from the station.

After their midday meal, Ferguson, Hurley and Mission Specialist Sandra Magnus did the late survey of Atlantis’ heat shield, focused on the reinforced carbon carbon of the wing leading edges and the nose cap. They used the shuttle robotic arm and its 50-foot orbiter boom sensor system to look first at the starboard wing, then the nose cap and finally the port wing.

Data from the survey will be transmitted to the ground for evaluation by experts.

Atlantis is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space center just before 5 a.m. on Thursday.
#62 by jacqmans on 20 Jul, 2011 05:17
STS-135 MCC Status Report #24

HOUSTON – The final shuttle crew’s final full day in space began with a fanfare – literally – and fond greetings from Florida.

Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim woke up at 8:32 p.m. to Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” It was followed by a prerecorded message from Kennedy Space Center employees.

“Three … two … one … Good morning, Atlantis!” the group said. “Kennedy salutes you. See you back at wheels stop!”

Kennedy is, of course, home to the space shuttle fleet, along with its launch pads and the people who prepared the shuttles for each trip into space. Atlantis is scheduled to land at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Kennedy on Thursday.

Before it does so, however, the STS-135 crew will spend the day checking out the shuttle’s flight control surfaces and hot firing its reaction control system jets, making sure everything is ready for deorbit. They’ll also pause in their work for one last round of interviews with reporters back home – at 3:44 a.m., the crew will be talking with ABC News, CBS News, CNN, FoxNews and NBC News.

Meanwhile, here on the ground, another United States icon will pay its own tribute to Atlantis’ mission. The Empire State Building in New York City – instantly recognizable, just as the NASA space shuttle is – will celebrate the Space Shuttle Program Wednesday night by lighting the way home for Atlantis and its crew.

To honor 30 years of space shuttle flights on 135 missions, the Empire State Building will glow Red, White and Blue throughout the night Wednesday as Atlantis prepares to return home ending the last ever shuttle flight. The ESB lighting schedule can be viewed at http://www.esbnyc.com/.

The next status report will be issued at the end of the crew’s day or earlier if warranted. Atlantis’ crew is scheduled to go to sleep just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
#63 by jacqmans on 21 Jul, 2011 04:34
STS-135 MCC Status Report #25

HOUSTON – Deployment of a small satellite, checkout of Atlantis’ flight flaps and rudder, and packing up for their return home kept shuttle crew members busy Wednesday.

Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim are scheduled to land Atlantis a little before 5 a.m. CDT Thursday at Kennedy Space Center. Forecasters are calling for good weather.

That last landing of the shuttle program will bring Atlantis to its final home. It is to be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex.

The crew began cabin stowage – packing up in preparation for Thursday’s landing – early in its workday. Ferguson, Hurley and Walheim spent a little over an hour beginning around 1:15 a.m. with a checkout of the flight control surfaces, the rudder and flaps with which they will guide the shuttle through the atmosphere. Subsequently they hot fired reaction control system jets, the thrusters that control Atlantis’ orientation before the flight control surfaces become effective as the shuttle descends into the atmosphere.

Springs pushed the PicoSat from Atlantis’ cargo bay at 2:49 a.m. It is designed to evaluate the performance of a variety of solar cells mounted on it. The eight-pound, 5- by 5- by 10-inch satellite could lead to development of improved solar cells for use in space.

It was the 180th payload deployed by a space shuttle.
Shuttle crew members got one last chance to talk from space with news media representatives on the ground. A little before 4 a.m., the crew answered questions from ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News.

The Empire State Building in New York City – instantly recognizable just as the NASA space shuttle is – will pay tribute to, and celebrate, the Space Shuttle Program Wednesday night by lighting the way home for Atlantis and its crew. To honor 30 years of shuttle flights on 135 missions, the Empire State Building will glow Red, White and Blue throughout the night Wednesday as Atlantis prepares to return home ending the last shuttle flight. The ESB lighting schedule is at:

http://www.esbnyc.com/

A graphic depicting the tribute is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/multimedia/empire_state.html
#64 by jacqmans on 21 Jul, 2011 04:34
STS-135 MCC Status Report #26

HOUSTON – The final day of the final space shuttle mission began at 8:29 p.m. with an iconic final wakeup song.

Kate Smith’s rendition of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” woke Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim. But unlike most wakeup songs, which are played in honor of a particular crew member, this one was dedicated to not only the entire crew, but also all “the men and women who put their heart and soul into the shuttle program for all these years,” as Capcom Shannon Lucid told the crew.

Ferguson said it was an appropriate song for their last day in space.

“Thank you, America, for supporting this program,” he said. “We’ll see you on the ground here in a few short hours, hopefully.”

Preparations are now underway for Atlantis’ 33rd and final landing, scheduled for 4:56 a.m., just before dawn in Florida. The teams here on the ground will spend the intervening time taking a close look at weather conditions at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which are forecast to be favorable, before giving the crew a go or no-go to perform a deorbit burn at 3:49 a.m. to put Atlantis on the path home.

If, for any reason, the first opportunity can’t be taken, a second opportunity would allow Atlantis to land in Florida at 6:32 a.m. To make that touchdown time, the crew would perform a deorbit burn at 5:25 a.m. Additional opportunities are also available on Friday morning.

Assuming Atlantis does land on its first opportunity today, it will be the 19th night landing at Kennedy Space Center, and the 78th landing there at any time of the day. There have been 54 landings at Edwards Air Force Base in California over the course of the program, and one at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, for a total – including today’s scheduled landing – of 133 space shuttle landings in 30 years.

The next status report will be issued after landing or at the end of the crew’s day if landing is waved off.
#65 by bolun on 21 Jul, 2011 11:24
Space Shuttle final landing marks end of an era

21 July 2011

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMXRSCT5QG_index_0.html
#66 by jacqmans on 21 Jul, 2011 16:17
RELEASE: 11-241

NASA ADMINISTRATOR COMMEMORATES FINAL SPACE SHUTTLE LANDING

WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden today issued this
statement about the final landing of the Space Shuttle Program:

"At today's final landing of the space shuttle, we had the rare
opportunity to witness history. We turned the page on a remarkable
era and began the next chapter in our nation's extraordinary story of
exploration.

The brave astronauts of STS-135 are emblematic of the shuttle program.
Skilled professionals from diverse backgrounds who propelled America
to continued leadership in space with the shuttle's many successes.
It is my great honor today to welcome them home.

I salute them and all of the men and women who have flown shuttle
missions since the very first launch on April 12, 1981.

The shuttle program brought our nation many firsts. Many proud
moments, some of which I was privileged to experience myself as a
shuttle commander. I was proud to be part of the shuttle program and
will carry those experiences with me for the rest of my life.

As we move forward, we stand on the shoulders of these astronauts and
the thousands of people who supported them on the ground - as well as
those who cheered their triumphs and mourned their tragedies.

This final shuttle flight marks the end of an era, but today, we
recommit ourselves to continuing human spaceflight and taking the
necessary-and difficult-steps to ensure America's leadership in human
spaceflight for years to come.

I want to send American astronauts where we've never been before by
focusing our resources on exploration and innovation, while
leveraging private sector support to take Americans to the
International Space Station in low Earth orbit.

With the bold path President Obama and Congress have set us on, we
will continue the grand tradition of exploration.

Children who dream of being astronauts today may not fly on the space
shuttle . . . but, one day, they may walk on Mars. The future belongs
to us. And just like those who came before us, we have an obligation
to set an ambitious course and take an inspired nation along for the
journey.

I'm ready to get on with the next big challenge.

The future is bright for human spaceflight and for NASA. American
ingenuity is alive and well. And it will fire up our economy and help
us win the future, but only if we dream big and imagine endless
possibilities. That future begins today."

-end-
#67 by jacqmans on 21 Jul, 2011 16:18
RELEASE: 11-240

NASA'S PROUD SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM ENDS WITH ATLANTIS LANDING

Agency Ushers In Next Era OF Exploration

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Wrapping up 30 years of unmatched achievements
and blazing a trail for the next era of U.S. human spaceflight,
NASA's storied Space Shuttle Program came to a "wheels stop" on
Thursday at the conclusion of its 135th mission.

Shuttle Atlantis and its four-astronaut crew glided home for the final
time, ending a 13-day journey of more than five million miles with a
landing at 5:57 a.m. EDT at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It was the 25th night landing (19th night and 78th total landings at
Kennedy) and the 133rd landing in shuttle history.

"The brave astronauts of STS-135 are emblematic of the shuttle program
-- skilled professionals from diverse backgrounds who propelled
America to continued leadership in space with the shuttle's many
successes," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "This final
shuttle flight marks the end of an era, but today, we recommit
ourselves to continuing human spaceflight and taking the necessary-
and difficult - steps to ensure America's leadership in human
spaceflight for years to come."

Since STS-1 launched on April 12, 1981, 355 individuals from 16
countries flew 852 times aboard the shuttle. The five shuttles
traveled more than 542 million miles and hosted more than 2,000
experiments in the fields of Earth, astronomy, biological and
materials sciences.

The shuttles docked with two space stations, the Russian Mir and the
International Space Station. Shuttles deployed 180 payloads,
including satellites, returned 52 from space and retrieved, repaired
and redeployed seven spacecraft.

The STS-135 crew consisted of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug
Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim. They
delivered more than 9,400 pounds of spare parts, spare equipment and
other supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module -
including 2,677 pounds of food - that will sustain space station
operations for the next year. The 21-foot long, 15-foot diameter
Raffaello brought back nearly 5,700 pounds of unneeded materials from
the station.

A welcome home ceremony for the astronauts will be held Friday, July
22, in Houston. The public is invited to attend the 4 p.m. CDT event
at NASA's Hangar 990 at Ellington Field. Gates to Ellington Field
will open at 3:30 p.m. The ceremony will be broadcast live on NASA
Television. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to
streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

STS-135 was the 135th and final shuttle flight, Atlantis' 33rd flight
and the 37th shuttle mission dedicated to station assembly and
maintenance.

For more information about the STS-135 mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For information about the space station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

For information on NASA's future exploration activities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/next
#68 by jacqmans on 21 Jul, 2011 16:22
STS-135 MCC Status Report #27

HOUSTON – Atlantis landed at 4:57 a.m. CDT Thursday, wrapping up a successful 13-day mission, ending its own 33-flight career and closing out the 30-year, 135-flight Space Shuttle Program.

Kennedy Space Center weather was near perfect with light winds and clear skies. Atlantis glided to a smooth predawn landing under a waning half-moon.

“Mission complete, Houston,” said Commander Chris Ferguson just after wheels stop. “After serving the world for over 30 years, the shuttle has earned its place in history, and it has come to a final stop.”

Entry Capcom Barry Wilmore responded: “We congratulate you, Atlantis, as well as the thousands of passionate individuals across this great spacefaring nation who truly empowered this incredible spacecraft … which has inspired millions around the globe.”

Atlantis crew members, Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim, wound up the successful mission to the International Space Station. It left the station with about 9,400 pounds of equipment and supplies carried aloft in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module, and almost 2,300 pounds of experiments, equipment and supplies brought up in its middeck lockers.

Atlantis returned almost 5,700 pounds of unneeded equipment and trash in Raffaello. The shuttle also brought back material, including experiments, in its middeck lockers and a 1,400-pound pump module. Part of the station cooling system, it had failed last year. It will be examined to determine what caused the failure.

During Atlantis’ eight-day, 15-hour stay at the orbiting laboratory, station Flight Engineers Mike Fossum and Ron Garan did a 6.5-hour spacewalk that included placing the pump module in the shuttle cargo bay and installing on the station a satellite refueling experiment called the Robotic Refueling Mission.

On Atlantis’ way home the small PicoSat, designed to evaluate performance of a variety of solar cells, was deployed from the cargo bay.

During STS-135, Atlantis orbited the Earth 200 times, traveling 5,284,862 statute miles. Over its 33 missions, it spent 307 days in space, completing 4,848 orbits and traveling 125,935,769 miles. STS-135 was the 37th visit of a space shuttle to the station.

Shuttles on all 135 missions traveled more than 542 million miles in space.

This was the 78th shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center. Shuttles landed 54 times at Edwards Air Force Base in California and once, on Columbia’s STS-3 flight in March 1982, at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

A celebration of Atlantis crew members’ homecoming will be held in Houston at 4 p.m. Friday. Open to the public, the ceremony will be held at Ellington’s Hangar 990. Ellington gates will open at 3:30 p.m.
#69 by jacqmans on 10 Aug, 2011 19:50
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-167

NASA ASTRONAUTS TO VISIT INTREPID SEA, AIR & SPACE MUSEUM

WASHINGTON -- The last crew to fly aboard a space shuttle will visit
New York City's Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum from 10 a.m. to 2:30
p.m. EDT on Thursday, Aug. 18.

Commander Christopher Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission
Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim completed a 13-day mission
to the International Space Station in July. The STS-135 flight marked
the end of NASA's 30-year-old shuttle program.

The STS-135 crew's events are open to news media representatives.
-- 10 to 11:30 a.m.: Presentation to more than 200 students from
Intrepid's educational programs (ages 7 - 15) inside the museum's
Allison & Howard Lutnick Theater
-- 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.: Meeting with public at two museum exhibits:
- Journey to Tomorrow traveling exhibit, a 53-foot long, walk-through
trailer packed with exciting interactive learning stations on the
museum's pier
- Project Kewl exhibit located in the museum's Exploreum Hall. Project
Kewl is an interactive educational game using the Xbox 360 and Kinect
sensor that allows visitors to explore the space station, walk on
Mars and take control of NASA's coolest robots.

In April, NASA selected the Intrepid as one of four museums to receive
a space shuttle. It will be the new home for the Enterprise,
currently on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space
Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

During the STS-135 mission, the crew delivered more than 9,400 pounds
of spare parts, spare equipment and other supplies in the Raffaello
multi-purpose logistics module --including 2,677 pounds of food --
that will sustain station operations for the next year.

For more information about the STS-135 mission and crew, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/STS-135

For more information about the Intrepid Museum, visit:

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org
#70 by Space Pete on 19 Sep, 2011 18:50
QinetiQ North America and NASA Advance Space Travel with First Forward Osmosis Experiments in Microgravity

McLean, VA – September 19, 2011 - QinetiQ North America announced today the results of another successful experiment completed on board the final flight of the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) in July 2011. The experiment, the first of its kind in microgravity, tested the novel application in space of a technology modeled on a biological process used by cells on Earth to recover water from their environment. Already engineered for use in applications ranging from desalination plants to treating non-potable water for backpackers, forward osmosis is the natural diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane. The membrane permits small polar molecules like water to pass through while blocking most other molecules like salts, sugars, starches, or proteins, and stopping all microorganisms like protozoan parasites, bacteria, and viruses. On earth, the process converts undrinkable water to a potable fluid in a few hours; how the process would work in reduced gravity was unknown prior to this experiment.

In testing on the shuttle, the experiment demonstrated the process to be nearly as effective in microgravity as in normal gravity. For the microgravity experiment, scientists from QinetiQ North America and NASA worked with the creators of the X-Pack™, a commercially available product, to develop the Forward Osmosis Bag (FOB), a passive, personal, portable water purification device. The experiment used a combination of indicator dyes and calculated the effect of mechanical mixing – i.e., shaking three of the experiment’s six FOBs for a few minutes – on the rate of water passage across the membrane. Additional ground control experiments for the forward osmosis study will be conducted later this month at the Kennedy Space Center.

“If we discover that manual manipulation helps, then we hope a long-term application would result in a spacesuit which would induce the mechanical mixing as astronauts move around during spacewalks,” said QinetiQ North America project engineer Monica Soler.

Soler added that, unlike reverse osmosis, which requires a significant amount of energy, forward osmosis provides an energy-efficient process that does not increase payload weight or energy needs of the spacecraft. QinetiQ North America developed and administered the forward osmosis experiment, as well as other scientific experiments, on board the final flight of Atlantis, as a part of its Engineering Services Contract (ESC) with NASA.
In the future, the Forward Osmosis Bag may be used for water recovery aboard the International Space Station or in contingency, return-to-earth scenarios where the crew requires emergency potable water. The process could also extend the reach of manned space travel and enable longer space walks by giving astronauts the ability to produce drinkable fluids in space.

http://www.qinetiq-na.com/72c3bd5f-87ab-40b0-8bf7-39c5b6d96120/news-and-events-latest-news-detail.htm
#71 by jacqmans on 23 Sep, 2011 19:20
RELEASE: 11-324

NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE CREW MEMBERS HOST TWEETUP IN WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON -- NASA invites its Twitter followers to a special Tweetup
with Sandy Magnus and Chris Ferguson at 4 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct.
13. The event will be in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at
NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. SW, Washington.

Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists
Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim were the crew of the space shuttle
Atlantis for the 13-day STS-135 mission. Atlantis launched July 8 and
landed July 21, completing NASA's final space shuttle mission, after
a journey of more than five million miles.

The crew delivered more than 9,400 pounds of spare parts, equipment
and other supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module --
including 2,677 pounds of food -- that will sustain space station
operations for the next year.

The 21-foot long, 15-foot diameter Raffaello brought back nearly 5,700
pounds of unneeded materials from the station. STS-135 was the 135th
and final shuttle flight.

A Tweetup is an informal meeting of people who use the social
messaging medium Twitter. This NASA Tweetup is an opportunity to meet
and speak with STS-135 crew members, the people behind NASA's Twitter
account and other space-exploration-minded participants.

Registration for the event is open from 10 a.m. EDT, Thursday, Sept.
29, until 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30. NASA randomly will select 150
participants from online registrants. For more NASA Tweetup
information and to sign up, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup

To connect with NASA on Twitter and other social networking sites,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/connect

All four of Atlantis' crew members are posting updates to Twitter. You
can follow Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission
Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim at:

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Ferg

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Doug

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Sandy

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Rex

For more information about shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135
#72 by jacqmans on 18 Sep, 2013 15:34
Report #JA13-004

Petaluma Honors NASA Astronaut with ‘Rex Walheim Day’

NASA astronaut and California native Rex Walheim will be honored by the City of Petaluma, Calif., with his own special day, “Rex Walheim Day” on Sept. 21.

Beginning at 1 p.m. PDT, Saturday, Sept. 21, in downtown Petaluma, a motorcade parade honoring Walheim will proceed from the Sheraton hotel, 745 Baywood Drive, to hanger 18B of the Petaluma Airport, 601 Sky Ranch
Road. A media opportunity is scheduled at 1:45 p.m.

The opening ceremony, and presentation by Petaluma Mayor David Glass of a city proclamation officially declaring Sept. 21 as "Rex Walheim Day," begins at 2 p.m.

At 2:30 p.m., Walheim will deliver a presentation showcasing images and video from his last space shuttle mission, STS-135, the final spaceflight of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program, and discuss what lies ahead for
America's space agency. His presentation also will include an interactive question-and-answer session with the public. The event is free with general admission.

“It is always a pleasure to return home to California,” Walheim said. “I am looking forward to sharing my spaceflight experiences in Petaluma.”

Walheim grew up in nearby San Carlos, Calif. He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1996. The veteran of three spaceflights has logged more than 36 days in space, including more than 36 hours during five spacewalks.
Currently, Walheim is chief of the Exploration Branch of the Astronaut Office, where he works as the astronaut representative to the Orion Program, America’s new human spacecraft for space exploration.

For more information about this appearance, contact Brenda Cabaniss, publicist, Astronaut Appearances Office, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 281-244-8860, or Joe Noriel, president, Petaluma
Museum/History Connection at [email protected] or 707-776-7534.

For more information about Walheim, visit:

http://1.usa.gov/jzhYmh

For information about Orion, visit:

http://1.usa.gov/ly2urC

For information about Rex Walheim Day, visit:

http://historyconnection.net/