Sept is Hispanic Heritage Month

Former Goddard Employee,
Astronaut Piers J. Sellers, Takes to the Sky on STS-112 Next Month

Sellers in training version of Extravehicular Mobility Unit space suit

Dr. Piers J. Sellers, a former Goddard employee who worked on research of how the Earth's biosphere and atmosphere interact, will be aboard Shuttle Atlantis when it launches from the Kennedy Space Center on October 2. At Goddard, Dr. Sellers' work involved computer modeling of the climate system, satellite remote sensing studies and fieldwork utilizing aircraft, satellites and ground teams in places such as Kansas, Russia, Africa, Canada and Brazil.

Sellers was selected as an astronaut candidate in April 1996. After completing two years of training and evaluation, he qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. He was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch, and most recently served in the Astronaut Office Space Station Branch.

Sellers is making his spaceflight debut on STS-112. Atlantis's crew also will include Commander Jeff Ashby and Pilot Pam Melroy along with mission specialists Sandy Magnus, David Wolf and Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

STS-112's major objective during the planned 11-day flight is to deliver the 45-foot long, 15-ton S1 Truss to the International Space Station and attach it to the S0 Truss. The S1 Truss will enable the station to begin the outboard expansion of its rail system in preparation for the addition of new power and international science modules in the years to come.

Three spacewalks are scheduled for the STS-112 (9A) mission of Atlantis to the International Space Station. The spacewalks will be performed on alternate days, on the crew's flight days four, six and eight. Atlantis Mission Specialists Sellers and Wolf will perform all three. The other first-time crewmember is Russian Engineer Yurchikhin from RSC-Energia who will join Melroy as one of two spacewalk choreographers during the mission and who will work with Magnus in the transfer of experiments and payloads from Atlantis to the ISS during docked operations.

STS 112 is currently scheduled to launch on Oct. 2 between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. EDT.

For more on information STS 112, visit http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/

NASA 's Mission:
*To understand and protect our home planet
*To explore the Universe and search for life
*To inspire the next generation of explorers
…as only NASA can

For a further details of the NASA mission, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/bios/vision.html

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September is Hispanic Heritage Month Initiated by the U.S. Congress as Hispanic Heritage Week more than 20 years ago, the celebration has grown and expanded to recognition for a month long

Visit Dateline for more info on Hispanic activities.