NASA's New Astronauts Head for the Hills, Available to Media Aug. 26

NASA's new astronaut candidates, most of them recently back from the dunks and dips of water survival and basic flight training in Florida, now will head for the wilds of Maine for land survival training. They will be available to media at Naval Air Station (NAS) Brunswick, Maine, upon completion of their outdoor venture at 1:30 p.m. EDT Aug. 26.

The new astronaut class is based in Houston, but so far has had little time to call it home. New video of recent orientation tours for the class at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, will air on the NASA Television's video file beginning at noon EDT today. The briefings included visits to a simulated Mars terrain, Mission Control, the Virtual Reality Laboratory, and Space Shuttle and Space Station trainers.

The class includes three educator astronauts who were selected from thousands of teachers across the country. It also includes three military pilots, a Navy SEAL, an astrophysicist, two physicians, and an engineer. Also training with the 11-member astronaut candidate class are three Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronauts. The class will arrive at NAS Brunswick Aug. 23 and begin the rigorous survival training at Rangeley Lakes.

The Aug. 26 availability will include opportunities for one- on-one interviews. Media interested in attending should call NAS Brunswick at 207/921-2000 by noon EDT Aug. 25. Media will be picked up at the Dyers Gate location.

NASA Television is available in the continental U.S. on AMC- 6, Transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 72 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. In Alaska and Hawaii, NASA Television is available on AMC-7, Transponder 18C, C-Band, located at 137 degrees west longitude. Frequency is 4060.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz.

NASA's new explorers, the first astronaut candidate class named to pursue the Vision for Space Exploration to return to the Moon and journey beyond, include:

• Pilot Randolph J. Bresnik from Fort Knox, Ky.
• Pilot James P. Dutton, who last lived in Edwards, Calif.
• Mission Specialist Robert S. Kimbrough, a League City, Texas, resident
• Educator Mission Specialist Joe Acaba from Dunnellon, Fla.
• Educator Mission Specialist Ricky Arnold, who resided in Bucharest, Romania
• Mission Specialist Chris Cassidy, who grew up in York, Maine
• Mission Specialist Jose Hernandez, of Houston
• Mission Specialist Tom Marshburn, a League City, Texas, resident
• Educator Mission Specialist Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, of Vancouver, Wash.
• Mission Specialist Bobby Satcher, formerly of Oak Park, Ill.
• Mission Specialist Shannon Walker, of Houston
• JAXA Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, a medical doctor from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
• JAXA Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, an engineer from Tokyo
• JAXA Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, an engineer born in Chiba Prefecture, Japan

For full biographies of the astronaut candidates on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/ascan2004.html

For more information on the Japanese astronauts on the Internet, visit:

http://iss.sfo.jaxa.jp/astro/profile_e.html

For more on NASA on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/formedia

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