NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, who lived and worked six months on the International Space Station as commander of the orbiting laboratory, will visit NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Media are invited to talk with him at 10 a.m. on Sept. 20 about his latest mission as part of the Expedition 49 and 50 crews.
During his stay on station, Kimbrough conducted four spacewalks, during which he installed new batteries and relay boxes, and helped move a pressurized mating adapter for future spacecraft visiting the outpost. Kimbrough, a retired colonel in the U.S. Army, also contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth observations. For example, for the Microgravity Expanded Stem Cells investigation, Kimbrough and fellow crew members observed cell growth and other characteristics in microgravity. Results from this investigation could lead to the treatment of diseases and injury in space, and provide a way to improve stem cell production for medical therapies on Earth.
Selected for the NASA astronaut class of 2004, Kimbrough qualified for various technical assignments in the Astronaut Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston before completing his first spaceflight in November 2008 as a crewmember of STS-126. The flight on the space shuttle Endeavor delivered a new bathroom, kitchen, two bedrooms, an exercise machine and a water recycling system to the space station.
Media can meet Kimbrough and talk with him about his activities on the space station during his visit at the Payload Operations Integration Center – mission control for space station science located at the Marshall Center.
Media interested in covering Kimbrough’s visit should contact Janet Anderson in the Marshall Office of Communications at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m., Monday, Sept. 18. Media must report to the Redstone Arsenal Joint Visitor Control Center at Gate 9, Interstate 565 interchange at Research Park Boulevard by 9:15 a.m. Sept. 20. Vehicles are subject to a security search at the gate. News media will need photo identification and proof of car insurance.
Kimbrough’s biography is available at:
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/robert-shane-kimbrough/biography
For more information on the space station, visit:
Janet Anderson
Marshall Space Flight Center
256-544-0034
janet.l.anderson@nasa.gov