01.22.

07

James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-3749

RELEASE: M07-008

NASA SETS INTERVIEWS WITH ASTRONAUTS FROM RECENT SHUTTLE

FLIGHTS

HOUSTON - A month after returning from space, NASA astronauts Joan

Higginbotham, a Chicago native, and Bill Oefelein, an Alaska native,
are available for satellite interviews.

Higginbotham is available Thursday, Jan. 25 from 6 to 8 a.m. CST.

Oefelein is available Friday, Jan. 26 from 3 to 5 p.m. To participate
in the interviews, media should contact the NASA Johnson Space Center
newsroom in Houston at 281-483-5111 by Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 4 p.m.

Higginbotham and Oefelein made their first spaceflight aboard

Discovery in December 2006 on STS-116, a 13-day mission to the
International Space Station to rearrange the complex's power and
cooling systems. During the flight, Higginbotham operated the
station's robotic arm and coordinated cargo transfers between the
shuttle and the station. Oefelein was Discovery's pilot and
coordinated four spacewalks from inside the station and shuttle.

The mission brought online electricity generated by a second giant set

of solar panels added to the station during a September 2006 shuttle
flight. The changes almost doubled the electrical power available to
the station. Shuttle Discovery also carried a new crew member, Suni
Williams, to the station to begin a six-month stay. European Space
Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, who had been in orbit since July,
returned to Earth aboard Discovery.

Higginbotham was born and raised in Chicago and received a bachelor’s

degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Ill. She also
has two master’s degrees from the Florida Institute of Technology,
Melbourne, Fla. Before her selection as an astronaut in 1996,
Higginbotham spent nine years working at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center,
Fla., overseeing various stages of shuttle launch preparation.

Oefelein, a U.S. Navy commander, considers Anchorage, Alaska, his

hometown. He credits his youth in Alaska with helping foster his
interest in flying. While there, he obtained a private pilot's
license with a float plane rating. He attended the U.S. Navy Fighter
Weapons School, also known as TOPGUN, and became a Navy fighter and
test pilot. Oefelein has logged more than 3,000 hours in 50 different
types of aircraft.

Oefelein received a bachelor's from Oregon State University,

Corvallis, Ore., and a master's from the University of Tennessee
Space Institute, Knoxville, Tenn.

Higginbotham and Oefelein were joined aboard Discovery by STS-116

Commander Mark Polansky and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Nicholas
Patrick, Williams and Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency
astronaut.

For Higginbotham's biographical information, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/higginbo.html

For Oefelein's biographical information, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/oefelein.html

The interviews will be carried live on the NASA TV analog satellite

AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude; transponder 5C, 3800 MHz,
vertical polarization, with audio at 6.8 MHz. B-roll video of
Higginbotham's training for the mission will air at 5:30 a.m. CST.
For NASA TV downlink, schedules and streaming video information,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about STS-116 and its crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

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