NASA and Woods Hole Linkup Connects Space and Sea Explorers

Jan. 25, 2007

John Yembrick
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0602

Nicole Cloutier
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-511

MEDIA ADVISORY: M07-010

NASA AND WOODS HOLE LINKUP CONNECTS SPACE AND SEA EXPLORERS

Two extreme explorers will connect in a unique call Friday, Jan. 26,
linking the depths of the ocean with the heights of Earth orbit. NASA
and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Mass., will host the
ultra-long distance call between International Space Station
astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams and marine biologist Tim Shank in
the Alvin research submersible.

The call will take place at 1:45 p.m. CST, and will be broadcast
tape-delayed on NASA Television between 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.,
immediately following the conclusion of a station status media
briefing from NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. Williams,
orbiting 220 miles overhead, and Shank, conducting research two miles
undersea in the Alvin submersible, will compare notes on science and
exploration. Additionally, they will field questions submitted by
students and educators.

Williams, a Massachusetts native and commander in the U.S. Navy,
served as a diver and helicopter pilot prior to being selected as an
astronaut. Williams was a member of a NASA crew in 2002 that lived
underwater for nine days in the Aquarius habitat off the Florida
coast. She boarded the space station on Dec. 11, 2006, as a flight
engineer for the Expedition 14 crew, joining Commander Michael
Lopez-Alegria and fellow Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. Williams
will spend six months on the complex.

Shank, a marine biologist in the Woods Hole's Department of Biology,
is currently conducting research diving in the Alvin at the
hydrothermal vent field on the East Pacific Rise. He is leading a
National Science Foundation-funded research expedition as part of the
RIDGE2000 program. Alvin is owned by the Navy and operated by Woods
Hole as a part of the National Deep Submergence Facility.

For NASA TV downlink, schedules and streaming video information, and
more information about the space station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
http://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

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