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May 8, 2003

Steve Roy
MSFC, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 256/544-0034)

Ed Noles
McWane Center, Birmingham, Ala.
(Phone: 205/714-8219)

RELEASE: 03-073

Step aboard the International Space Station at McWane Center May 24
to Sept. 1

Visitors can blast off on the summer vacation of a lifetime with
International Space Station: The Earth Tour, a 5,000-square-foot,
interactive exhibit appearing at McWane Center in Birmingham, Ala.,
from May 24 to Sept. 1.

McWane -- a science center specializing in hands-on exhibits -- is
collaborating with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Ala., on the Space Station exhibition. Visitors can step aboard
high-fidelity replicas of Space Station modules and laboratories,
experiencing life in orbit from lift-off to landing.

The real International Space Station orbits more than 250 miles above
Earth and is the third brightest object in the night sky. It is
evolving from a construction project to a world-class laboratory --
the only lab without an Earth address. The Destiny laboratory, where
most science experiments are conducted, was built at the Marshall
Center.  Alabamians work seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the
Payload Operations Center -- NASA's Space Station science command
post located at the Marshall Center. 

To highlight Alabama's contributions to the Space Station program,
the Marshall Center is sending exhibits about Station hardware, and
NASA has scheduled experts to talk at the museum during selected
weekends this summer.

On July 19, Todd May, an engineer who led the team that built a
"doorway to the stars" - the new Quest airlock, will speak. The
airlock helps crews exit the Space Station for Extravehicular
Activities, also known as EVAs and space walks. May is a native of
Fairhope, Ala., and a graduate of Auburn University in Alabama.

On Aug. 30, visitors can hear about Space Station science from Dr.
Bill Carswell - a senior research scientist at the University of
Alabama in Huntsville. Carswell has been involved with space
experiments for 15 years and currently is working on a furnace that
will process metals and alloys on the Space Station.

A Marshall Center exhibit will allow visitors to get their hands on
science - the same way the Space Station crew conducts science inside
the Microgravity Science Glovebox. Working inside the sealed glovebox
by using gloves attached to the front, the crew can handle fluids,
flames and other substances safely. The glovebox exhibit includes a
mockup of mission control, so museum visitors can simulate the
communications from the ground control to astronauts doing science on
the Space Station. 

Visitors will view Life Support System Racks and learn the way
wastewater may someday be recycled for reuse by the Station crew.
Five racks connected together include two water-recycling racks, one
air recycling rack and the Station bathroom and shower.

A third display will feature NASA's Technology Transfer Program by
showing numerous examples of commercial products used by American's
everyday. These products -- smoke detectors, a bicycle racing helmet,
cordless tools and golf clubs -- were created or enhanced using
technology from the space program.

As part of their Space Station tour, McWane guests will use
simulators to train for their space mission and experience Shuttle
lift off to the Station in a special theater. Once in orbit, guests
step inside a mockup that resembles the real Space Station, which has
been under assembly by the United States and 15 other nations since
1998. This international home in space has grown from the size of an
apartment to a more spacious facility roomier than a three-bedroom
house. Eventually, it will be as big as a five-bedroom house with
almost an acre of solar panels. 

Aboard the Station, McWane Center visitors learn how astronauts eat,
sleep, shower, go to the bathroom and keep fit in space. Then they
enter the Station's Destiny laboratory and go to work.
Floor-to-ceiling racks containing equipment, experiments, stowage,
crew systems and maintenance systems expose visitors to day-to-day
science activities. After a full day of space-work, guests experience
a virtual return to Earth in the Crew Return Vehicle Theater.

Built by U.S. Space Enterprises in Charlotte, N.C., International
Space Station: The Earth Tour will travel to venues across the United
States over the next six years and is expected to attract as many as
five million visitors. The national exhibit sponsor is Goodrich,
which developed space suits for NASA's Mercury astronauts and
produces the wheels and brakes for the Space Shuttle. For more
information on admission to the McWane Center, the exhibit and the
Space Station, please visit the following Web sites:
http://www.mcwane.org http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/

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