Sept 17, 2009

John Yembrick Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 john yembrick-1@nasa gov

Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 nicole cloutier-1@nasa gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-180

NEXT STATION COMMANDER SHARES TRAINING, FLIGHT ON TWITTER AND BLOG

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, who will command the next International Space Station mission, is using Twitter, a blog and short video clips to provide a unique, behind the scenes insight into his training in Russia Once in orbit, Williams will become the first space station commander to share his experiences using Twitter

Williams Twitter username is Astro_Jeff He is in his final month of training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia He will be providing a look at his experiences in Star City and at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston

Williams will launch to the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft with Soyuz Commander Max Suraev and spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept 30 Williams will become a flight engineer for the Expedition 21 crew when he arrives at the complex and later will command Expedition 22 He will spend six months in space

Williams will be making his third trip to space He first flew on shuttle mission STS-101 in May 2000, during which he was the lead spacewalker He served as a flight engineer aboard the space station for Expedition 13 in 2006 Williams has logged more than 193 days in space, including more than 19 hours during three spacewalks

To follow Williams on Twitter, visit:

http://www twitter com/Astro_Jeff

To read Williams' blog, visit:

http://blogs nasa gov/cm/blog/2089

For Williams' complete biography, visit:

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

For more information about the space station, visit:

http://www nasa gov/station

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