WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- NASA astronaut Don
Pettit is available for limited interview opportunities
beginning at 10 a.m. EDT,
Friday, Aug. 16, to discuss his
upcoming mission to the International Space Station in
September.
The virtual interviews will stream live on NASA+, NASA
Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. Learn how to
stream NASA+ through a variety of platforms including social
media.
Interested media must submit a request no later than
12 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 15, to the newsroom at NASA's
Johnson Space Center in Houston at
281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov.
Pettit will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft,
accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and
Ivan Vagner. The trio will spend
approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory before
returning to Earth in the spring
of 2025.
During his time in orbit, Pettit will conduct scientific
investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the
crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on
Earth. Pettit will participate in
several of the hundreds of experiments happening during his
mission, including studying how spaceflight affects blood clotting,
continuing tests of technology to produce human stem cells in
space, and contributing his unique photography skills to the
long-running Crew Earth Observations study of how Earth is changing over time.
NASA selected Pettit as an astronaut in 1996. A veteran of
three spaceflights, he has contributed to integral advancements in
technology and demonstrations for human space exploration. He
served as a science officer for Expedition 6 in 2003, operated the
robotic arm for STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour in 2008, and served
as a flight engineer for Expedition 30/31 in 2012. Pettit has
logged 370 days in space and conducted two spacewalks totaling 13
hours and 17 minutes.
A native from Silverton, Oregon, Pettit holds a bachelor's degree in
Chemical Engineering from Oregon State
University, Corvallis, and
a doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Prior to his career with NASA, Pettit
worked as a staff scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory
in New Mexico.
For more than two decades, humans have lived and worked
continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing
scientific knowledge, and making research breakthroughs that are
not possible on Earth. The station
is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the
challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial
opportunities in low Earth orbit.
As commercial companies focus on providing human space
transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low
Earth orbit economy, NASA is able
to focus more of its resources on deep space missions to the Moon
and Mars.
Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on
the station blog, Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Learn more about International Space Station research and
operations at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-hosts-astronaut-don-pettit-prelaunch-interviews-302219004.html
SOURCE NASA