Kirsten Williams Larson
Headquarters, Washington, DC           February 5, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-0243)

RELEASE:  01-07

GETTING PERSONAL: WEB SITE SHOWS HUMAN SIDE
OF SPACE STATION

     Visit NASA's new "Personal Space" Web site and get up-
close and personal with International Space Station team 
members like STS-98 astronaut Robert Curbeam.

Curbeam, called "Beamer" by his friends, and his crewmates are 
currently scheduled to launch Feb. 7 to deliver the U.S. 
Laboratory Destiny to the station. As a young child, Curbeam's 
goal was to design rockets. Now he rides rockets into space. 

During STS-98, Curbeam will be part of the second crew to 
visit the now-inhabited  space station. Wearing a 300-pound 
spacesuit 220 miles up, Curbeam will take a walk on the wild 
side, attaching the U.S. laboratory to the ever-growing 
station. The site allows visitors to walk in Curbeam's shoes 
and learn what inspired him to pursue his career path.

Other featured space station team members include: 

*  Kathy Laurini, an American mother of three who lives and 
works on the Automated Transfer Vehicle project in the 
Netherlands;
*  Takayoshi Nishikawa, a triathlete who prepared and 
conducted the training program for station astronaut 
candidates at the Japanese Space Agency (NASDA); 
*  Dino Brondolo, an avid winemaker who spent the last nine 
years building Multipurpose Pressurized Logistics Modules for 
the Italian Space Agency; 
*  Alain Dubeau, manager of the Canadian Space Station 
Program, whose inch-worm-like "Canada Arm" robot arm will aid 
future station construction; 
*  Sylvie Beland, also of the Canadian Space Agency, whose job 
is to ensure all Canadian hardware, including the famous robot 
arm, and flight-support equipment arrive at the station 
safely; and 
*  The Expedition One crew -- two Russians and an American --  
the first humans to take up long-term residence on the 
International Space Station. 

"Personal Space" uses Flash technology to combine video 
vignettes, photos and other text and visual content into an 
interactive presentation. The site is located at:

         http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/snapshots.html

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