Oct. 8, 2004

Melissa Mathews 
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1272)

Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111) 

NOTE TO EDITORS: N04-160

NASA'S NEW ASTRONAUTS MEET THE PRESS

Fresh from flight training and their first head-over-heels sample of 
weightlessness, NASA's astronaut candidates are available to meet 
with the news media Thursday in Houston at 3 p.m. EDT. 

To attend the event at Houston's Ellington Field or to arrange 
telephone interviews, contact NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) 
newsroom at: 281/483-5111 by 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday. Video and still 
imagery of the new astronauts' flight training, including their first 
experience aboard NASA's "Weightless Wonder" aircraft, is also 
available.

NASA TV will air astronaut training video files beginning at noon EDT 
Thursday. NASA TV is available in the continental U.S. on AMC-6, 
Transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 72 degrees west longitude. The 
frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is 
monaural at 6.80 MHz. In Alaska and Hawaii, NASA TV is available on 
AMC-7, Transponder 18C, C-Band, located at 137 degrees west 
longitude. Frequency is 4060.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and 
audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz.

The class includes three educator astronauts, three military pilots, a 
Navy SEAL, an astrophysicist, two physicians, and an engineer. Also 
training with the 11-member astronaut candidate class are three Japan 
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronauts. The new astronauts 
are: 

– – Pilot Randy Bresnik, from Fort Knox, Ky. 
– – Pilot Jim Dutton, from Eugene, Ore. 
– – Mission Specialist Shane Kimbrough, from Atlanta
– – Educator Mission Specialist Joe Acaba, from Dunnellon, 
Fla. 
– – Educator Mission Specialist Ricky Arnold, from Bowie, 
Md. 
– – Mission Specialist Chris Cassidy, from York, Maine 
– – Mission Specialist Jose Hernandez, who grew up in 
Stockton, Calif. 
– – Mission Specialist Tom Marshburn, from Atlanta. 
– – Educator Mission Specialist Dottie 
Metcalf-Lindenburger, from Vancouver, Wash. 
– – Mission Specialist Bobby Satcher, who grew up in 
Hampton, Va. 
– – Mission Specialist Shannon Walker, a Houston native. 
– – JAXA Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, a medical doctor from 
Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan 
– – JAXA Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, an engineer from Tokyo 

– – JAXA Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, an engineer born in 
Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Full biographies of the U.S. astronaut candidates are available on the 
Web at: 

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/ascan2004.html 

For information about the Japanese astronauts on the Internet, visit: 

http://iss.sfo.jaxa.jp/astro/profile_e.html 

For still images of the flight training in Houston (available 
Thursday) on the Internet, visit: 

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/behindthescenes/training/ascan2004/ndxpage1.html 

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit: 


http://www.nasa.gov 

	
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