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June 25, 2003

Kelly Humphries
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281/483-5111

Jeff Stanford
Orlando Science Center
407/514-2145

Report #J03-71

FIRST SPACE STATION SCIENCE OFFICER TO LEAD NASA UNDERSEA CREW

Peggy Whitson, astronaut and the first NASA International Space
Station science officer, is commanding the crew of this year's first
NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission which
began June 16 and will continue through Sunday.

Joining the Expedition 5 crewmember are scientist Emma Hwang and
astronauts Clayton Anderson and Garrett Reisman, Ph.D.  The quartet
will serve as the NASA members of a crew living in the "Aquarius"
Underwater Research Facility for 14 days. 

The crew is using the undersea habitat as practice for long-duration
space habitation, living in a volume similar to that of the
habitation module of the ISS, conducting scientific research on the
human body and coral reef environment off the coast of Key Largo,
Fla., and building undersea structures to simulate space station
assembly spacewalk activities. 

NEEMO 5, our next-generation mission, goes beyond the bounds of a
space analog experience and will attempt to answer several
significant scientific questions about long duration isolation in
extreme environments," said Bill Todd, NEEMO project manager at JSC.
"We have ratcheted up the isolation factor, complexity and science
objectives to a level that closely parallels a space mission
experience. And the science we are performing may very well help
answer several critical path questions on our road map for journeying
to Mars and beyond."

The NEEMO missions are a cooperative project of NASA, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Undersea
Research Center (NURC) and the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington (UNCW). They use Aquarius, the only undersea research
laboratory in the world, which is owned by NOAA and managed by UNCW.
The 14-meter-long (45 feet) by 4-meter-diameter (13 feet) underwater
home and laboratory operates 4.5 kilometers (3 miles) off Key Largo
in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 

Similar in size to the Space Station's Zvezda Service Module, it is
situated next to deep coral reefs and provides life support systems
that allow scientists to live and work in reasonably comfortable
quarters. The facility is supported by a 10-meter life support buoy
on the surface, which provides power, life support and communication
requirements. There is also a shore-based "mission control" which
supports all Aquarius missions with 24-hour mission monitoring. This
mission also will be supported by JSC's Exploration Planning and
Operations Center (ExPOC) control room, simulating the interactions
between astronauts and control rooms on spaceflights. 

In addition to research and construction, the NEEMO crew will
participate in six educational "point-to-point" videoconferences and
a web chat while in its underwater habitat. The first event will be
the web chat, a cooperative effort of JSC's Distance Learning
Outpost (DLO) and NASA Ames Research Center's Quest project at 2:30
p.m. EDT June 19. For more information on the web chat and how to
participate, visit: 

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/projects/space/aquarius/2003/june.html

Approximately 100 Kindergarten through sixth grade students
participating in summer science camps at the Orlando Science Center
will be able to see live television pictures and talk with the
crewmembers via JSC's DLO videoconferencing system at 1:45 p.m. EDT
June 27 in OSC's Darden Adventure Theater.  They will have completed
a construction task similar to the one the crew will have constructed
underwater. The task is designed to simulate the communication skills
and construction techniques that are needed by the 16 participating
countries as they work together to build the ISS and is a way to
capture students' attention while teaching them science or technology
concepts in the context of real research. During the construction
process, students will acquire and employ decision-making skills and
collaborative skills while applying principles of science and
technology.  In the end, they will have a better understanding of the
creativity and the engineering challenges required to build the ISS,
and they will share these experiences while talking live with the
Aquanauts and learning about life underwater.  The video
teleconference will also be open to the general public. Summer camp
students from The Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA will be
participating as well. 

For more information about the Distance Learning Outpost and other
JSC educational programs, visit: 

http://education.jsc.nasa.gov

For additional information about the NEEMO project, visit the NASA
Human Spaceflight Web at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

For more information about Aquarius, visit: 

http://www.uncwil.edu/nurc/aquarius/

For more information about this opportunity and to arrange media
visits, contact Jeff Stanford, PR & Communications Manager, Orlando
Science Center, at (407) 514-2145. 

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