NASA Digest, Vol 52, Issue 6

	September 07, 2017  MEDIA ADVISORY M17-105 Virginia Officials, Hidden Figures Author Join NASA in Honoring Legacy of Famed Mathematician; Live on NASA Television The Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Credits: NASA U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, and author Margot Lee-Shetterly are among the dignitaries honoring Katherine Johnson, former NASA employee and central character of the book and movie Hidden Figures, at 1 p.m. Sept. 22 at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. They will join Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck and Langley Center Director David Bowles in cutting the ribbon to officially open the center's new Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility, a state-of-the-art lab for innovative research and development supporting NASA's exploration missions. The event will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. Media wishing to attend must contact Michael Finneran of the Langley communications office at 757-864-6110 or michael.p.finneran@nasa.gov. Johnson, 99, will attend and participate in photo opportunities, but will not be available for interviews. A prerecorded message from her will be aired during the ceremony and a statement will be read. Johnson was a "human computer" at Langley who calculated trajectories for America's first spaceflights in the 1960s. The retired mathematician was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 2015. Her contributions and those of other NASA African-American human computers are chronicled in the 2016 movie Hidden Figures, based on Lee-Shetterly's book of the same name. She worked at Langley from 1953 until she retired in 1986. For more about Johnson, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/content/katherine-johnson-biography The Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility (CRF) is a $23-million, 37,000-square-foot, energy efficient structure that consolidates five Langley data centers and more than 30 server rooms. The facility will enhance NASA's efforts in modeling and simulation, big data, and analysis. Much of the work now done by wind tunnels eventually will be performed by computers like those at the CRF. For more information about Langley Research Center, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/langley
	Press Contacts Karen Northon Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1540 karen.northon@nasa.gov Mike Finneran Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. 757-864-6110 michael.p.finneran@nasa.gov

	September 07, 2017  MEDIA ADVISORY M17-103 NASA Television Coverage Set for Next International Space Station Crew Launch Expedition 53 crew members: Joe Acaba of NASA, Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, and Mark Vande Hei of NASA pose for a photograph for the press outside the Soyuz simulator ahead of their Soyuz qualification exams, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. The three are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:17 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017 (3:17 a.m. on Sept. 13, Baikonur time) aboard the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft. Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls Two NASA astronauts are among the three crew members poised to launch for a five-month stay aboard the International Space Station, and NASA Television will provide extensive coverage of their prelaunch activities, launch and their arrival on their orbital outpost.  Expedition 53-54 Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA and Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:17 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 12 (3:17 a.m. Baikonur time on Sept. 13) aboard the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft. Launch coverage will begin at 4:15 p.m. on NASA Television and the agency's website. A full complement of video of the crew's prelaunch activities in Baikonur will air on NASA TV in the days preceding launch. After their launch, the trio will travel on a fast-track, six-hour path to the space station, where they are expected to dock at 10:57 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12. NASA TV coverage of docking will begin at 10:15 p.m. Hatches between the Soyuz and the space station will open at about 12:40 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13. The arriving crew will be welcomed on board by Expedition 53 Commander Randy Bresnik of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos and Paolo Nespoli of the ESA (European Space Agency). NASA TV coverage of the hatch opening and welcoming ceremonies will begin at 12 a.m. Sept. 13. The crew members of Expedition 53-54 will continue work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the International Space Station, humanity's only permanently occupied microgravity laboratory. Get breaking news, images and features from the station on Instagram and Twitter at: https://instagram.com/iss and https://www.twitter.com/Space_Station
	Press Contacts Kathryn Hambleton Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov Dan Huot Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov