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HOUSTON, June 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA astronaut Rex Walheim will be available for live satellite interviews in front of a full-scale model of the Orion spacecraft from 6 - 7:30 a.m. CDT, Thursday, June 28. Interviews will originate at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The first space-bound Orion capsule is set to arrive at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida next week.

Walheim is the Astronaut Office's main liaison with the Orion Program. He provides input from an astronaut's perspective on Orion's design and testing process. Walheim was one of four NASA astronauts to fly on the final space shuttle mission, STS-135, in July 2011. Orion will be used to carry out the uncrewed Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., in 2014. At Kennedy, Orion's heat shield will be installed and the capsule will undergo final assembly and checkout operations. EFT-1 will be the first spaceflight of NASA's next-generation crew vehicle and send the capsule farther into space than any human spacecraft since Apollo 17's return from the moon.

Walheim is a native of San Carlos, Calif., and a 1984 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. He received a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force in May 1984, eventually serving as an instructor at the United States Air Force Test Pilot School before NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1996. He received a master of science degree from the University of Houston in 1989. To arrange an interview, news media representatives must contact Karen Svetaka at 281-483-8684 or karen.a.svetaka@nasa.gov by 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 27.

The NASA Live Interview Media Service (LIMS) satellite will be used for the interviews. LIMS satellite parameters will be provided by NASA to confirmed clients.

For NASA Television streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For Walheim's biography, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/walheim.html

For more information about Orion, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orion

SOURCE NASA