For release: 04/19/04
Release #: 04-113

Astronauts and NASA scientists to discuss aereospace careers with students from middle Tennessee high schools

What: What does it take to have the "right stuff"? Astronauts and NASA scientists will provide the answers to hundreds of Tennessee students at Aerospace Career Day at Cookeville High School in Cookeville, Tenn. NASA participants and other speakers will be available for news media interviews during and after the event.

Professors and career counselors from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, as well as from other universities and colleges, will be on hand to guide students who are considering careers in science, technology, engineering, math and other fields. Students will have the opportunity to view NASA exhibits and receive publications geared to help them on their academic journeys. They will learn about the Vision for Space Exploration and how they can play a role in future journeys to the Moon and Mars. .

When: Thursday, April 22, 8 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. CDT

Where: Cookeville High School
2335 North Washington Ave.
Cookeville, Tenn.

Speakers:

9:30-10:45 a.m. CDT: Dr. Roger Crouch, former NASA astronaut
1-2:15 p.m. CDT: Dr. Andrew (Drew) Gaffney, former NASA astronaut

Crouch, a native of Jamestown, Tenn., earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (now Tennessee Technological University) in 1962. He earned his master's degree and his doctorate degree in physics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg in 1968.

Crouch, who is now the International Space Station senior scientist for NASA's Biological and Physical Research Enterprise, Washington, flew on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-83 and STS-94, both in 1997. These were Materials Science Laboratory missions focusing on materials and combustion research, as well as other science disciplines.

For Crouch's biography, see: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/PS/crouch.html

Gaffney, a cardiologist, is associate dean for clinical affairs at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He flew in 1991 on STS-40 -- the Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS 1) mission, which was the first Spacelab mission dedicated to biomedical studies.

For Gaffney's biography, see: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/gaffney-fa.html

To attend: News media interested in covering the event should contact the Marshall Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034 or Cookeville High School at (931) 520-2287, no later than April 21.

For more information about the Vision for Space Exploration on the Internet, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/bush_vision.html

For information about NASA on the Internet, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/

For supporting materials for this news release - such as photographs, fact sheets, video and audio files and more - please visit the NASA Marshall Center Newsroom Web site at http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news/

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