NASA marks 5 years on the International Space Station

NASA is celebrating five years of human space flight on the
international space station with special activities over the next two weeks.

“Being here, living here, is something that I will probably spend the rest of my life striving to find just the right words to try to encompass and convey just a fraction of what makes our endeavors in space so special and essential,” said Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson KC5ZTD, of Expedition 5, who lived six months in space on the station. Backdropped against the Caspian Sea, this full view of the international space station was photographed by a crewmember onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery after the undocking of the two spacecraft. Image credit: NASA

Five Years in Space:
The Station Astronauts
3 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 27:

Events start Thursday with a panel discussion and news conference featuring former station residents at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. The event airs live on NASA TV, and will include questions from media and employees at Johnson and other participating NASA locations. Video highlights of the past five years on the station air before the discussion.

Panelists:
Jim Voss, Expedition 2 Flight Engineer
Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD, Expedition 5 Flight Engineer
Ed Lu, KC5WKJ, Expedition 7 Flight Engineer
Michael Foale, KB5UAC, Expedition 8 Commander
Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, Expedition 9 Flight Engineer

NASA TV's Public, Education and Media channels are available on an MPEG-2 digital C-band signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. In Alaska and Hawaii, they're on AMC-7 at 137 degrees west longitude, transponder 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder is required for reception. For digital downlink information for each NASA TV channel and access to NASA TV's Public Channel on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Five Years in Space:
Satellite Interviews With Expedition 11
7:30 to 9 a.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 2: To book an interview, media must contact the Johnson newsroom at: 281/483-5111, NLT 1 p.m. EST, Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev U5MIR and Flight Engineer John Phillips KE5DRY returned from the station Oct. 10. Krikalev and Phillips, an Arizona native, will discuss their experiences during their six-month stay aboard the station. Krikalev was a member of the first station crew. He is the only crew member to serve in two expeditions.

The interviews will air on the NASA TV analog satellite, AMC 6 transponder 5C, located at 72 degrees west longitude, with a downlink frequency of 3800 MHz, vertical polarization. The audio is at 6.8 MHz. Video highlights from Expedition 11 will air 20 minutes prior to the first interview and after the last interview.

Five Years in Space:
Special Edition Interactive Web page:
Web visitors can check opportunities to see the station; look at the best of more than 175,000 images taken by station crews; view the highlights of station operations over the past five years; and locate hometown images on a special Web site, at: http://www.nasa.gov/station

The first station crew arrived on the complex on Nov. 2, 2000. The station is the largest and most complex spacecraft ever built. The result of a 16-nation partnership led by the United States, it is the largest international space project in history. Twelve crews have lived on the station, conducting assembly and research work. Station crews have logged more time in space than all other U.S. spacecraft combined.

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/home

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