New Associate Administrator For Education Available For Media

WASHINGTON — Leland D. Melvin, NASA’s newly appointed associate administrator for education, will be available to members of the media on Wednesday, Oct. 20, from 1 to 4 p.m. EDT.

Melvin, a former astronaut, will be available for a media roundtable teleconference at 1 p.m. and for television live shots from 3 to 4 p.m. To participate in one or both of these media opportunities, reporters should contact Ann Marie Trotta at 202-358-1601 or ann.marie.trotta@nasa.gov by 2 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 19.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden appointed Melvin on Oct. 12 to be responsible for developing and implementing agency education programs that strengthen student involvement and public awareness about NASA’s scientific goals and missions.

Melvin is from Lynchburg, Va. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Richmond and a master’s degree in materials science engineering from the University Virginia. Melvin joined NASA in 1989 as an aerospace research engineer at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. He joined the astronaut corps in 1998 and served as a mission specialist on two space shuttle missions: STS-122 in 2008 and STS-129 in 2009, logging more than 565 hours in space. In 2003, Melvin co-managed the former Educator Astronaut Program, which recruited teachers to become fully-trained astronauts in an effort to connect space exploration with students across the country.

NASA Television’s Live Interview Media Outlet channel will be used for the live shots. The channel is a digital satellite C-band downlink by uplink provider Americom. It is on satellite AMC 3, transponder 9C, located at 87 degrees west, downlink frequency 3865.5 Mhz based on a standard C-band, horizontal downlink polarity. FEC is 3/4, data rate is 6.0 Mbps, symbol rate is 4.3404 Msps, transmission DVB-S, 4:2:0.

The interviews also will be broadcast live on NASA TV’s Public and Media Channels. For streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For complete biographical information about Melvin, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/melvin_bio.html

For more information about NASA’s education programs, visit: http://ww.nasa.gov/education