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Date: Friday, Oct. 8, 2004 Schedule: 9:00 a.m. PDT Welcome Remarks 9:05 a.m. PDT NASA Explorer School Presentation 11:15 a.m. PDT Media Opportunity 11:30 a.m. PDT Lunch with an Astronaut Who: NASA Ames Deputy Director Stan Newberry and astronaut Nicholas Patrick Where: Key Peninsula Middle School, 5510 Key Peninsula Hwy, KPN Lakebay, Wash.

"NASA is embarking on a bold, new Vision for Space Exploration, and the students at Key Peninsula Middle School will be the ones who will help make the Vision a reality," said Stan Newberry, NASA Ames deputy director. "NASA is committed to education, and the NASA Explorer Schools program will help open students to new possibilities and inspire them to reach for their dreams."

The NASA Explorer School program provides opportunities for schools, administrators, students and their families to partner with NASA to improve student learning; to participate in authentic experiences with NASA science and technology; to apply NASA science, mathematics and technology knowledge to real-world issues and problems; and to participate in special events and other opportunities.

"We at Key Peninsula Middle School could not be more pleased or excited about being a NASA Explorer School, nor could this honor have come at a more dynamic time in our school's history," said Dennis Nugent, Key Peninsula Middle School principal. "This program will create opportunities and experiences for our students that we could only have wished for before we received this honor. Already, our students have a new awareness of our country's space program and an increased knowledge of how math and science have made our progress possible. We look forward to our growing partnership with NASA and the opportunities that this partnership will bring to our students, our school and our community," Nugent added.

Newberry became NASA Ames' deputy director on July 26, 2004. Newberry came to Ames via the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, Hampton, Va., where his strong management and leadership skills were instrumental in establishing the new organization developed to improve safety at NASA. He began his NASA career at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after transferring from the Department of Defense. He has held key NASA management positions, including director of space operations at Johnson Space Center, Houston, and he served as NASA's representative to the Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Newberry earned masters degrees in computer science and business from Colorado Technical University, Denver, and the University of Central Florida, Orlando, respectively. He completed the Harvard University Senior Managers in Government program, Cambridge, Mass., and he has received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal.

Nicholas Patrick joined NASA's astronaut corps in August 1998 as a mission specialist. Born in the United Kingdom, Patrick earned bachelors and masters degrees in engineering from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. He also earned masters and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass. While at MIT, Patrick became a U.S. citizen.

Patrick is an avid pilot, logging more than 1,700 hours, 800 of them as a flight instructor, in more than 20 types of airplanes and helicopters. During his career, Patrick has worked for aircraft industry leaders and he holds three patents in the areas of telerobotics, display design and integrated aircraft alerting systems. Patrick earned several prestigious awards, including one for outstanding contributions to the user interface design for the space shuttle program's cockpit avionics upgrade.

News media interested in visiting the NASA Explorer School or interviewing Newberry or Patrick in conjunction with their visit to Key Peninsula Middle School should contact Jonas Dino of NASA Ames at 650/207-3280 by 3 p.m. PDT, Thursday, Oct. 7. All news media representatives will be required to sign in at the school's main office prior to entering the campus.

For information about the NASA Explorer Schools Program, visit:

http://explorerschools.nasa.gov

For more information about the Vision for Space Exploration, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/bush_vision.html

For information about NASA, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov