NASA Readies Six-Person International Space Station Crew

NASA will hold a media briefing at 1 p.m. CST on Wednesday, March 4, with the four future residents of the International Space Station who will usher in an era of six-person crews living aboard the orbiting research laboratory. The increase doubles the number of people who will be living and working in space.

The briefing will originate from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and will be broadcast live on NASA Television. Questions will be taken from reporters at participating NASA sites.

The briefing participants are:
- Roman Romanenko, Soyuz commander, Expedition 20 flight engineer and Russian cosmonaut
- Frank DeWinne, Expedition 20 flight engineer and Expedition 21 commander (the first European Space Agency astronaut to command the station)
- Robert Thirsk, Expedition 20 and 21 flight engineer and Canadian Space Agency astronaut
- Nicole Stott, Expedition 20 and 21 flight engineer and NASA astronaut

After the briefing, the participants will be available for photographs and individual interviews, in person or by telephone. To participate in the interviews, media should contact the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 no later than 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27.

Romanenko, DeWinne and Thirsk will launch to the station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in May. Stott will travel to the station aboard the space shuttle Discovery in August.

Last November, crew aboard the ISS installed and tested a Urine Recycler which will be used to recycle urine for drinking water. The station crew depends now on water carried up aboard a space shuttle or cargo rocket. But an operational water recycler is expected to cut that need by 65 percent by producing about 6,000 pounds of potable water each year. Creating enough fresh water to allow the station to host the six crew members instead of three.

You can stream the media briefing from the NASA web site live.