NASA invites the media to visit the Marshall Expedition 71 crew

NASA will host the four astronauts on Wednesday, January 29 at 9 a.m. CDT for a media opportunity at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

NASA astronauts Matt Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Tracy C. Dyson were part of Expedition 71 and will discuss their recent missions to the International Space Station.

Dominick, Barratt and Epps launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission in March 2024 and he came back to Earth in October 2024 after spending nearly eight months on the orbital complex. Dyson was launched in the Roscosmos Soyuz spacecraft also in March 2024 and he came back in September 2024 after completing a six-month research mission on the space station.

The media is invited to attend the event and visit with the astronauts as they discuss their science missions in the microgravity laboratory and other mission highlights. Media interested in attending must RSVP by Monday, January 27th at 12 noon to Lance D. Davis – lance.d.davis@nasa.gov – and Joel Wallace – joel.w.wallace@nasa.gov – in Marshall’s communications office.

Media must arrive by 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Redstone Arsenal Joint Visitor Control Center Gate 9 parking lot, located at the Interstate 565 interchange at Research Park Boulevard. The event will be held in the NASA Marshall Activities Building 4316. Vehicles are subject to a security search at the entrance, so please allow extra time. All media representatives and drivers will need photo identification. Drivers will need proof of insurance if requested.

The Expedition 71 crew conducted hundreds of technological demonstrations and scientific experiments, including bioprinting of human tissues. These higher-quality tissues printed in microgravity could help advance the production of organs and tissues for transplants and improve 3D printing of food and medicine in future long-duration space missions. The crew also looked neurological organoidscreated with patient stem cells to study neuroinflammation, a common feature of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. The organoids have provided a platform to study these diseases and their treatments, and could help unravel how extended spaceflight affects the brain.

As part of Crew-8, Dominick served as commander, Barratt served as pilot, and Epps served as mission specialist. Dyson was launched in a Soyuz spacecraft as part of an international crew and served as flight engineer on a six-month research mission. The space station expedition was the first space flight for Dominick, the third for Barratt, the first for Epps and the third for Dyson.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that enables research not possible on Earth. For more than 24 years, NASA has supported a continued human presence in the orbiting laboratory, through which astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. The space station is a springboard for the development of the low-Earth economy and NASA’s next big step in exploration, including missions to the moon under Artemis and, eventually, human

Learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and its crew at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

Lance D. Davis
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-640-9065
lance.d.davis@nasa.gov

Joel Wallace
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-786-0117
joel.w.wallace@nasa.gov