NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, who lived and worked on the International Space Station as a flight engineer from July to October 2016, will visit NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on April 6. She will share highlights from her mission to space as part of the Expedition 48 and 49 crews.
During her four-month stay on the station, Rubins became the first person to sequence DNA in space, researching technology development for deep space exploration by humans, Earth and space science. She also grew heart cells in cell cultures while conducting experiments in molecular and cellular biology, human physiology, fluids and combustion physics.
Rubins and NASA astronaut Jeff Williams conducted two spacewalks outside the space station. The first spacewalk helped prepare the station for the future arrival of U.S. commercial crew spacecraft when the crew members installed an International Docking Adapter. During the second spacewalk, they performed maintenance of the station external thermal control system and installed high-definition cameras, enabling never-before seen images of Earth and space station.
The media will have an opportunity to talk to Rubins at 10:30 a.m. on April 6 at the Payload Operations Integration Center – mission control for science on the space station located at the Marshall Center.
Media interested in covering Rubins’ visit should contact Janet Anderson in the Marshall Office of Communications at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 5. Media must report to the Redstone Arsenal Joint Visitor Control Center at Gate 9, Interstate 565 interchange at Research Park Boulevard by 10 a.m. April 6. Vehicles are subject to a security search at the gate. News media will need photo identification and proof of car insurance.
Rubins’ biography is available at:
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/kathleen-rubins/biography
For more information on the space station, visit:
Janet Anderson
Marshall Space Flight Center
256-544-0034
janet.l.anderson@nasa.gov