The next residents of the International Space Station and a Japanese spaceflight participant will discuss their mission during a Thursday, July 13, news conference on NASA TV.

The 2:30 p.m. CDT briefing will originate from NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, while the current station residents continue their joint mission with the Space Shuttle Discovery. Questions will be taken from media at participating NASA locations. The briefing participants are:

-- Mike Lopez-Alegria, a NASA astronaut born in Madrid, Spain, and raised in Mission Viejo, Calif., who will be Expedition 14 commander and NASA space station science officer.

-- Mikhail Tyurin, a Russian cosmonaut who will be Expedition 14 flight engineer and Soyuz commander.

-- Suni Williams, a NASA astronaut born in Euclid, Ohio, and raised in Needham, Mass., who will be a flight engineer on both Expedition 14 and 15. Williams will arrive for a six-month stay at the complex on the STS-116 shuttle mission, joining Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin and replacing European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter as a third station crew member. Williams will remain on the station until the spring 2007, while Reiter returns to Earth with the STS-116 crew.

-- Daisuke Enomoto, a Japanese businessman who will launch with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin from Baikonur under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency. Enomoto will stay on the station for eight days and return to Earth with Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, currently aboard the complex.

Following the news conference, interviews will be available with Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Williams for reporters at Johnson and by phone. Interested media should contact the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 by 5 p.m. CDT Wednesday, July 12.

For NASA TV downlink and schedule information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about the International Space Station, its mission and crews, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station