NASA astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri are nearing the halfway mark of their six-month mission to the International Space Station. NASA officials will discuss the crew's activities during a media briefing Thursday, Jan. 22 at 1 p.m. CST from NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston.

The panel will take questions from reporters at participating NASA centers. The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

Participants in Thursday's briefing: · Bill Gerstenmaier, International Space Station Program Manager · Joel Montalbano, Expedition 8 Lead Flight Director · Dr. Don Thomas, International Space Station Program Scientist

Foale, the Expedition 8 Commander and NASA Science Officer, and Kaleri, the Flight Engineer, launched on Oct. 18. They will spend almost 200 days on the Station. They are scheduled to return to Earth April 28.

For information about NASA and the Space Station on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

NASA Television is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. For information about NASA TV on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

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