Pilot of Final Shuttle Mission to Hubble Set for Satellite Interviews

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Gregory C. Johnson, a native of Seattle, will be available for live interviews via satellite from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, April 21. Johnson will make his first trip into space as the pilot of space shuttle Atlantis during STS-125, the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch is targeted for May 12 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

To schedule interviews, reporters should contact NASA's Johnson Space Center newsroom at 281-483-5111 by noon Monday, April 20.

The 11-day flight will include five spacewalks on consecutive days to make repairs and upgrades to the telescope. Johnson will help guide the spacewalkers from inside the shuttle. Atlantis' astronauts will be the last humans to see the Hubble telescope in person.

Johnson was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in 1998. He has served in various agency roles, including manager of launch integration for the Space Shuttle Program at Kennedy.

Along with Johnson, the crew members of Atlantis are Commander Scott Altman and Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Megan McArthur.

For Johnson's complete biography, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/johnson-gc.html