Date: May 29th 2008

May 28, 2008

John Yembrick Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0602 john yembrick-1@nasa gov

Allard Beutel Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 allard beutel@nasa gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-107

NASA SETS BRIEFING ON NEW SPACE STATION NATIONAL LAB PARTNERS

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- NASA will hold a briefing at 11 a m EDT, Friday, May 30, to discuss new opportunities to use the International Space Station's unique research environment The briefing will originate from NASA's Kennedy Space Center and be broadcast live on NASA Television

As part of an initiative to use the space station as a national laboratory, NASA is partnering with other government agencies and the commercial sector to utilize the U S segment for research that is not directly applicable to NASA's mission NASA signed agreements with the University of Colorado's Bioserve Center of Boulder on May 9 and with SPACEHAB of Webster, Tx , and Zero Gravity Inc of Las Vegas on May 27

The briefing participants include: - John J Uri, deputy manager, Space Station Payloads Office, NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston - Timothy Hammond, associate chief of staff, research and development, Durham Veterans Administration Medical Center, N C - Louis S Stodieck, director, Bioserve Space Technologies and Research and professor, aerospace engineering sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Institutes of Health in September 2007 was the first agreement between NASA and another agency for use of the station as a national lab The U S Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service plans to enter into an MOU with NASA for plant- and animal-related research NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer will participate in a formal signing ceremony May 31 at Kennedy

In May 2007, NASA sent a report to Congress describing how the U S segment of the space station can be used as a national lab The report outlines possible partnerships with other government agencies and private companies to conduct research aboard the station The report and other information about the space station's uses as a national laboratory can be found at:

http://www nasa gov/mission_pages/station/science/nlab/index html

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

http://www nasa gov/ntv

For more information about the station and the agreement, visit:

http://www nasa gov/station

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