Date: October 21st 2006

Oct 20, 2006

Katherine Trinidad Headquarters, Washington 202-358-3749

James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-166

BALTIMORE NATIVE TO DISCUSS ROLE ON NASA'S NEXT SHUTTLE FLIGHT

Bob Curbeam, a NASA astronaut who will fly aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in December, will be available for interviews by satellite from 7 to 8:45 a m EDT Tuesday, Oct 24

To participate in the interviews, media should contact the NASA Johnson Space Center newsroom in Houston at 281-483-5111 by 5 p m EDT Monday, Oct 23

Curbeam will be making his third spaceflight after performing duties as a mission specialist on two previous missions, STS-85 in 1997 and STS-98 in 2001 He will be conducting three spacewalks during the 11-day mission to the International Space Station to rearrange the complex's power and cooling systems The changes will bring online electricity generated by a second giant set of solar panels added to the station during September's shuttle mission The changes will almost double the electrical power available to the station's systems

Curbeam was born and raised in Baltimore He received a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the U S Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md , in 1984 and a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif , in 1990 He also received a degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1991 Before his selection as an astronaut in 1994, Curbeam was an instructor in the Weapons and Systems Engineering Department at the Naval Academy

Curbeam will be joined aboard Discovery by STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and mission specialists Joan Higginbotham, Nick Patrick, Suni Williams and Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency astronaut Williams will remain aboard the station for six months European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, currently aboard the station, will return to Earth on Discovery

For Curbeam's biographical information, visit:

http://www jsc nasa gov/Bios/htmlbios/curbeam html

Curbeam's interviews will be carried live on the NASA TV analog satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude; transponder 5C, 3800 MHz, vertical polarization, with audio at 6 8 MHz B-roll video of Curbeam's training for the mission will air at 6:30 a m EDT For NASA TV downlink, schedules and streaming video information, visit: http://www nasa gov/ntv

For more information about STS-116 and its crew, visit:

http://www nasa gov/shuttle

-end-

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