ASTRONAUT CREW THAT FLEW IN JULY TO SPEAK TO EMPLOYEES AT NASA MICHOUD ASSEMBLY FACILITY
NEW ORLEANS, LA, 29-AUG-06 -- NASA astronauts who flew on the successful STS-121 mission that launched from Kennedy Space Center on July 4 will address an all-hands employee meeting at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 30 at the Michoud Assembly Facility where Lockheed Martin and its 2,100 employees build the Space Shuttle External Tank for NASA in eastern New Orleans.
The crew will visit factory work areas and show a film about their mission, a test and inspection flight to the International Space Station. Astronauts will also meet with several members of the Hurricane Katrina Ride-Out Crew, who at great personal risk stayed at the facility during the storm, kept the pumps running and saved the factory from flooding. Both the astronauts and Ride-Out Crew members will be available for interviews.
Just weeks after Katrina devastated New Orleans and flooded nearly half of employees’ homes, those employees returned to work and began major modifications to External Tank-119 -- the vehicle that propelled the astronaut crew into space. Workers completed the tank in February one week ahead of schedule.
Commander Steve Lindsey led the mission accompanied by pilot Mark Kelly and mission specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Thomas Rieter, Piers Sellers and Stephanie Wilson. Rieter stayed behind to join the space station crew on orbit.
Reporters and photographers who wish to cover the event are asked to be at the Building 101 lobby at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility at 10 a.m.
Media Contacts:
For more information, please contact Harry Wadsworth at 257-0094, cell 715-7078 or harry.wadsworth@maf.nasa.gov.
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For additional information, visit our website:
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/michoud
