NASA Administrator To Speak With NEEMO 16 Crew During Underwater 'Spacewalk'

June 19, 2012

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov

Brandi Dean
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
brandi.k.dean@nasa.gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-116

NASA ADMINISTRATOR TO SPEAK WITH NEEMO 16 CREW DURING UNDERWATER 'SPACEWALK'

WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will speak with
astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, commander of the 16th NASA
Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission, and her
fellow crewmate Timothy Peake of the European Space Agency at 4:10
p.m. EDT Wednesday, June 20 as they perform their final "spacewalk"
of the mission, 63 feet below the ocean's surface.

The administrator's call to the crew will air live on NASA Television.


The NEEMO 16 crew has been simulating asteroid exploration on the
ocean floor since June 11. They are scheduled to return to the
surface June 22, after living for 12 days inside the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration's Aquarius Underwater Laboratory off
the coast of Key Largo, Fla. At the successful completion of the
mission, they will have performed 16 underwater spacewalks.

The NEEMO 16 mission is focusing on three particular challenges of an
asteroid mission. The crew is investigating communication delays,
restraint and translation techniques and optimum crew size. The
isolation and microgravity environment of the ocean floor allows the
NEEMO 16 crew to study and test concepts for how future exploration
of asteroids could be conducted.

Metcalf-Lindenburger and Peake are accompanied inside Aquarius by
Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Steven
Squyres of Cornell University. Squyres also was a member of NEEMO 15.


For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming
video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information on the NEEMO 16 mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/neemo


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