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Lead STS-126 Station Flight Director Available for Live TV Interviews

NASA flight director Ginger Kerrick, who will lead Mission Control for the upcoming space shuttle mission, will be available for satellite interviews from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. CDT, Monday, Nov. 10. One day before the launch countdown begins, Kerrick will discuss the challenges of the flight that will prepare the International Space Station to house six-person crews for long-duration stays on the outpost.

Shuttle Endeavour, scheduled to launch Nov. 14, will deliver a new crew member to the station, as well as a water recycling system, toilet, sleeping quarters and exercise equipment needed for larger crews beginning in spring 2009. The mission also will include four spacewalks to service rotary joints that allow the station's solar arrays to track the sun and generate power for operations and science.

Kerrick has been a flight director since 2005 and is a veteran leader of teams that manage shuttle flights and station expeditions. A native of El Paso, Texas, she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

To participate in the interviews, media should contact Karen Svetaka at 281-483-8684 before 3 p.m., Friday, Nov. 7.

The NASA Live Interview Media Outlet (LIMO) channel will be used for the interviews. The channel is a digital satellite C-band downlink by uplink provider Americom. It is on satellite AMC 6, transponder 5C, located at 72 degrees west, downlink frequency 3785.5 Mhz based on a standard C-band 5150 Mhz L.O., vertical polarity, FEO is 3/4, data rate is 6.00 Mhz, symbol rate is 4.3404 Mbaud, transmission DVB, minimum Eb/N0 is 6.0 dB.

The interviews also will be broadcast live on NASA Television. For streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

For more information about the space shuttle, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

Source: NASA