Expedition 30 and 31 Astronaut Don Pettit Available for Interviews

July 05, 2012

Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0321
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov

Jay Bolden
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
jay.e.bolden@nasa.gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-124

EXPEDITION 30 AND 31 ASTRONAUT DON PETTIT AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS

HOUSTON -- Just back from his mission aboard the International Space
Station, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will be available for live
satellite interviews from 6 to 7 a.m. CDT, Thursday, July 12.

Pettit and his crew mates, Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Andre
Kuipers of the European Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of the
Russian Federal Space Agency, returned to Earth in their Soyuz
TMA-03M spacecraft July 1. Pettit completed 193 days in space as a
member of the Expedition 30 and 31 crews during his third space
flight. Together with his previous space station expedition and space
shuttle flights, Pettit is fourth among U.S. space fliers with 370
days in space. He also has two spacewalks to his credit.

Pettit and his space station crew members spent the majority of their
time aboard the orbiting laboratory performing science experiments.
Their efforts supported more than 200 scientific investigations
involving more than 400 researchers around the world. The studies
ranged from integrated investigations of the human cardiovascular and
immune systems to fluid, flame and robotic research. They also
welcomed the first commercial cargo vehicle to the station, the
SpaceX Dragon, which Pettit caught and berthed to the complex using
the station's robotic arm.

During Expedition 30 and 31, Pettit also used household objects aboard
the station to perform a variety of unusual physics experiments for
the video series "Science Off the Sphere." Through these
demonstrations, Pettit showed more than a million Internet viewers
how space affects scientific principles.

Pettit is a native of Silverton, Ore., and a 1978 graduate of Oregon
State University. He earned a doctorate in 1983 from Arizona State
University and worked as a scientist at Los Alamos National
Laboratory before being selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1996.

To arrange an interview, news media representatives must contact Karen
Svetaka at 281-483-8684 or karen.a.svetaka@nasa.gov by 1 p.m.
Wednesday, July 11.

The interviews will be preceded by a feed of video b-roll material of
Pettit and his mission at 5:30 a.m. The interviews will be seen live
on NASA TV's public and media channels.

For NASA Television streaming video, downlink and scheduling
information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For Pettit's biography, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/pettit.html

To watch "Science Off the Sphere" videos, visit:

http://www.physicscentral.com/sots

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station


-end-



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