NASA TV News Conference, Media Availability with Next Space Station Crew

The next International Space Station crew, which includes NASA astronaut Steve Swanson, will take part in a NASA Television news conference and then be available for media interviews Wednesday, Jan. 22, at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency will launch to the space station aboard a Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft March 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as part of Expedition 39. Swanson will serve as commander for Expedition 40 beginning in May. They are scheduled to return to Earth in September.

The news conference with the crew members will be carried live on NASA TV at 1 p.m. CST. B-roll video of the crew will air beginning at 12:30 p.m. Reporters who wish to participate by telephone should call Johnson's newsroom at 281-483-5111 no later than 12:45 p.m. Those following the briefing on social media can ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA.

After the news conference, interview opportunities are available in person, by phone or through the Internet. To request credentials to attend in person or to reserve an interview opportunity, media must contact Johnson's newsroom by 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17. The deadline for international journalists to attend in person has passed.

Swanson was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colo. He holds degrees from University of Colorado, Florida Atlantic University and Texas A&M University. Swanson worked as a NASA systems engineer and flight engineer for the Shuttle Training Aircraft before being selected as an astronaut in 1998. Since then, he has flown on two space shuttle missions, STS-117 and STS-119, to the space station and conducted four spacewalks. Swanson's hobbies include backpacking, camping, trail running and mountain biking.

The Expedition 39-40 crew members will be the first to share their final weeks of mission preparations and their flight experiences on Instagram. Those interested can follow along at:

http://instagram.com/internationalspacestation

For Swanson's full biography, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/1bEdIAJ

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NASA TV News Conference, Media Availability with Next Space Station Crew