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Astronauts Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Koicha Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will tour NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, at 10 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 17. Reporters are invited to join the tour.

While at Goddard, Mastracchio and Wakata will view the new Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) control room and other satellite control centers. The GPM Core Observatory was launched into orbit in February while the two astronauts were aboard the International Space Station. The GPM team will brief Mastracchio, Wakata and the media on the observatory’s collection of data on rain, snowfall and other types of precipitation, data that is now available to the general public.

There also will be a brief question and answer opportunity with the astronauts. The tour and interview opportunity is expected to conclude no later than 11:30 a.m.

The visit is part of several days Mastracchio and Wakata will spend in the Washington area for events and activities to highlight their 188 days in orbit as members of the space station's Expedition 38/39 crews.

To participate in the event at Goddard, U.S. reporters and foreign media with green cards must contact Ed Campion at edward.s.campion@nasa.gov or 301-286-0697 by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16. Non-green card holding foreign media must provide passport or visa information no later than 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8, to allow time for processing and approval for access to Goddard.

Mastracchio’s official biography is available at:

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

Wakata's official biography is available at:

http://iss.jaxa.jp/en/astro/biographies/wakata/index.html

For more information on NASA’s GPM Core Observatory, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/gpm

For more on NASA Earth science launches, research and applications, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earthrightnow

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

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