Sun, May 10, 2009
NASA Shuttle Commander Tweets, Will Answer Questions from
Space
NASA astronaut Mark Polansky,
commander of the next space shuttle mission to the International
Space Station this June, is sharing updates about his training and
flight on Twitter and has invited followers to submit video
questions via YouTube that he will answer from orbit.
Polansky, a New Jersey native and former Air Force test pilot,
will command the space shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-127, a
flight targeted for launch June 13 to deliver the final portions of
the space station's Japanese laboratory. While posting tweets about
his crew's training, Polansky also will select video questions
submitted by followers. The videos will be transmitted to orbit
during the mission and answered live during a special event that
will be broadcast on NASA Television and posted to Polansky's
Twitter and YouTube pages.
Polansky's Twitter account is Astro_127, can be followed at www.twitter.com/Astro_127.
To submit a question, Polansky's Twitter followers should post a
video question no longer than 30 seconds to YouTube and tweet the
link to Polansky's account, @Astro_127. From now through the launch
of STS-127, one or two of the questions submitted will be selected
each week to be answered from orbit. A video invitation from
Polansky may be viewed at www.youtube.com/reelnasa
Polansky's crewmates are Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission
Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Julie
Payette and Tim Kopra. Wolf, Cassidy, Marshburn and Kopra will
perform the mission's five spacewalks. Kopra will remain aboard the
station after Endeavour departs as a flight engineer for Expedition
20. Koichi Wakata, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut,
will return to Earth on Endeavour to conclude his three-month stay
at the station.
The mission is Polansky's second space shuttle command and third
spaceflight.
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