WASHINGTON, June 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan will be available from 7 to 8:15 a.m. EDT Monday, July 1, for live satellite interviews from Star City, Russia, before launching on his first space mission, a nine-month expedition aboard the International Space Station.

The interviews will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website, preceded at 6:30 a.m. by video of Morgan’s training.

Morgan and his crewmates, Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency), are scheduled to launch aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-13 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:28 p.m. July 20 – the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

They will arrive at the station about six hours after launch, joining Expedition 60 Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA. Morgan is scheduled to remain aboard the station until April 2020.

To interview Morgan, media must contact Sarah Volkman no later than 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 26, at 281-483-9071 or sarah.e.volkman@nasa.gov. Media participating in the interviews must tune to the NASA TV Public Channel (NTV-1) or Media Channel (NTV-3). Satellite tuning information is available at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1pOWUhR

There are roughly 250 ongoing research experiments at NASA at any given time, many of which require astronauts’ hands. On Morgan’s mission, he and his crewmates, will facilitate research on various projects, including tests for the BioFabrication Facility on 3D-printing organs to see if microgravity affects the ability to build complex tissue shapes. Other experiments include the Biorock project, which focuses on mining materials in the solar system; the Space Moss study, a look into methods for engineering plants to grow better on Earth; and the Space Tango-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells experiment, which will be the first examination in space of cells from patients with Parkinson’s to better understand neurodegenerative diseases.

These are only a snapshot of the research Morgan and his crewmates will support during their expedition, and each experiment they conduct in space has practical application back on Earth.

Morgan joined NASA as a member of the 2013 astronaut class. He was born into a military family, but considers New Castle, PA to be his hometown. Morgan is a Colonel in the U.S. Army, and prior to his selection served as an emergency physician in special forces. He is the first Army Medical Corps officer to be selected as an astronaut.

In addition to Morgan’s board certification in emergency medicine, he also is certified in primary care sports medicine (CAQSM) and has national registry in musculoskeletal ultrasound (RMSK). He is a qualified military freefall parachutist, combat diver and flight surgeon. Over the course of his career Morgan has deployed to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Follow Morgan on social media at:

https://twitter.com/AstroDrewMorgan

https://www.instagram.com/astrodrewmorgan

https://www.facebook.com/AstroDrewMorgan/

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SOURCE NASA