August 28, 2000

Doug Peterson/Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
281/483-5111

Release: J00-50

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Media Invited To Meet Astronauts of the New Millennium

The astronaut class of 2000 will meet the media at NASA's Johnson Space Center on August 31, in a ceremony beginning at 3 p.m. CDT in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, Building 9.

The 17-member class will spend approximately the next year and a half in training and evaluation for possible assignment to Space Shuttle and Space Station missions as NASA and its international partners expand the orbiting International Space Station. The class members will be unavailable to media throughout their scheduled training to allow them to focus on their studies. Following the welcome ceremony, class members will be available for interviews and photo opportunities with media present at JSC. Media wishing to participate in person or request telephone interviews with class members should contact the JSC Newsroom no later than Wednesday, August 30 for accreditation.

The ceremony will be replayed on NASA Television at approximately 5 p.m. CDT. NASA TV is available on GE Spacenet 2, Transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees west longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 Mhz, audio of 6.8 Mhz.

The astronaut candidate class of 2000 includes seven pilots and 10 mission specialists representing each branch of the armed services, private industry and academia. The candidates and their hometowns are:

Dominic A. Antonelli (Lt., USN), Detroit, MI; Michael R. Barratt, M.D, Vancouver, WA; Robert L. Behnken (Capt., USAF), Creve Coeur, MO; Eric A. Boe (Maj., USAF), Miami, FL; Stephen G. Bowen (Lt. Cmdr., USN) Cohasset, MA; B. Alvin Drew (Maj., USAF) Washington DC; Andrew J. Feustel, Ph.D., Lancaster, PA; Kevin A. Ford (Lt. Col., USAF), Portland, IN; Ronald J. Garan, Jr. (Maj., USAF), Yonkers, NY; Michael T. Good (Maj., USAF), Parma, OH; Douglas G. Hurley (Maj., USMC), Endicott, NY; Timothy

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