NC astronaut to discuss recent mission aboard International Space Station
For Immediate Release
December 4, 2006
RALEIGH –Imagine spending nearly 190 days traveling at 17,500 miles per hour, 250 miles above the Earth. Better yet, meet a man who did it. The N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences welcomes NASA Astronaut William McArthur Jr. on Tuesday, December 12 at 12:30 p.m., to discuss his recent mission aboard the International Space Station. The one-hour presentation is free and open to the public. McArthur also will be donating to the Museum a large North Carolina state flag flown on the International Space Station.
Born in Laurinburg and a graduate of Red Springs High School in North Carolina, retired Army Colonel McArthur is now a veteran of four space flights and has logged nearly 225 days in space, including four space walks. His recent six-month-plus stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) ended on April 8 of this year. This was the 12th crew (Expedition 12) of the ISS since continuous human presence began on the orbiting laboratory in November 2000. One of the expedition's primary goals was to research ways to enhance the capability of humans to live and work in space.
Since becoming an Astronaut in 1991, McArthur has been on three shuttle flights, including the shuttle Discovery which docked with the ISS in October 2000. His transportation to the ISS last year was via a Soyuz spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. McArthur also docked with Mir during his mission aboard the shuttle Atlantis in 1995. Mir was the first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space, a precursor to the current ISS. Mir existed from 1986 until March 2001 when it was deliberately de-orbited and broke apart over the south Pacific during atmospheric re-entry.
The Museum of Natural Sciences currently hosts the traveling exhibit "SPACE: A Journey to Our Future," one of the largest-ever touring exhibitions on the past, present and future of space exploration. Admission for "SPACE" is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors (60+) and students, and $3 for kids (5-11). Last tickets sold at 4 p.m.
More information about McArthur and Expedition 12 can be found at www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition12/
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown Raleigh, documents and interprets the natural history of the state of North Carolina through exhibits, research, collections, publications, and educational programming. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 am to 5 pm, and Sun., noon to 5 pm. Admission is free. Visit the Museum on the Web at naturalsciences.org. The Museum is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary.
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