Katherine Trinidad<br />Headquarters, Washington Sept. 28, 2005<br />(Phone: 202/358-3749)<br /><br /><br />Kylie S. Clem<br />Johnson Space Center, Houston <br />(Phone: 281/483-5111)<br /><br /><br />MEDIA ADVISORY: M05-162<br /><br /><br />NASA ANNOUNCES SPACE STATION MISSION BRIEFINGS<br /><br /><br /> NASA announced media briefings at 2 and 3 p.m. EDT, Thursday to preview the <br />next mission to the international space station and to review the accomplishments <br />of the onboard crew. <br /><br /><br />The news conferences are at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston and will be <br />broadcast live on NASA TV. Questions will be taken from media at participating <br />NASA centers. <br /><br /><br />At 2 p.m., the Expedition 12 Preflight Briefing will provide an overview of the <br />next mission. Expedition 12 Commander William McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery <br />Tokarev, along with spaceflight participant Gregory Olsen, will launch at 11:54 <br />p.m. EDT, Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz rocket. <br /><br /><br />McArthur and Tokarev will stay on the orbiting complex for six months. Under a <br />commercial contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, Olsen will spend 10 <br />days in space and return to Earth with the Expedition 11 crew. <br /><br /><br />The 3 p.m. Expedition 11 Mission Status Briefing will review station operations <br />and the crew's return to Earth. Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev, Flight <br />Engineer John Phillips and Olsen will land in Kazakhstan at 9:08 p.m. EDT, <br />Monday, Oct. 10. Krikalev and Phillips will complete a six-month mission that <br />included the space shuttle?s Return to Flight.<br /><br /><br />-more-<br /><br /><br />-2-<br /><br /><br />For continental North America, NASA TV is carried on an MPEG-2 digital signal <br />accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 <br />MHz, vertical polarization. Beginning October 1, it will be available in Alaska <br />and Hawaii on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-7, transponder <br />18C, 137 degrees west longitude, 4060 MHz, vertical polarization. A Digital Video <br />Broadcast compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder is required for reception. <br />Through September 30, it's available in Alaska and Hawaii in analog on AMC-7, at <br />137 degrees west longitude, transponder 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal <br />polarization.<br /><br /><br />For information about NASA TV, including digital downlink information, visit: <br /><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/ntv<br /><br /><br />For more information about the international space station on the Web, visit:<br /><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/station<br /><br /><br />For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:<br /><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/home