Feb 6, 2012

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

Rachel Kraft Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 rachel h kraft@nasa gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-043

ASTRONAUT DON PETTIT SHARES PASSION FOR SCIENCE FROM SPACE

HOUSTON -- NASA and the American Physical Society (APS) have begun a partnership to share videos from the International Space Station with students, educators and science fans around the world NASA astronaut Don Pettit, currently on the orbiting outpost as a member of the Expedition 30 crew, will use everyday objects from Earth to demonstrate physics through "Science off the Sphere" presentations

Space fans know Pettit from his previous science demonstrations performed in space, such as the "Zero G Coffee Cup" from the space shuttle's STS-126 mission in 2008 This time he has added a physics challenge for viewers Some episodes of "Science off the Sphere" will end with a question APS will review the responses and identify a winner Pettit will announce the winner from aboard the station

APS, the professional society for physicists, plans to ignite interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by sharing the "Science off the Sphere" videos on its outreach website, Physics Central The website also will feature the physics challenges and educational content on topics Pettit demonstrates

Pettit spent more than five and half months on board the station during Expedition 6 in 2002 and 2003 He returned to space during STS-126 Most recently, Pettit launched to the orbiting laboratory Dec 23 with Russian Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers The crew joined Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank of NASA and Russian Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, who have been on the station since Nov 16

Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers will remain on the station until May as members of the Expedition 31 crew The crew members will support dozens of experiments during their time aboard the station

To view Pettit's science experiments performed during Expedition 6, visit:

http://go nasa gov/spacechronicles

To view Pettit's "Zero G Coffee Cup" video from STS-126, visit:

http://go nasa gov/pettitcoffee

For more information about the International Space Station and its crew, visit:

http://www nasa gov/station

To view APS' Physics Central website, visit:

http://www physicscentral com/sots

-end-

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