NASA MEDIA TELECON ON SCIENCE, BUSINESS PAYLOADS ON NG-14 CYGNUS, Sept 24, 2020, virtual, 1:00 pm ET

NASA will hold a media telecon on September 24, 2020 at 1:00 pm ET to discuss payloads that will be delivered to the International Space Station on the next Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft, NG-14.  The launch from Wallops Island, VA is scheduled for September 29.

Among them is the first “business” payload that illustrates NASA’s new focus on commercializing low Earth orbit.  Astronauts will film an Estée Lauder product in the ISS Cupola (see last item in the list below) and the company will use the images on its social media sites.

Audio of the telecon will be streamed on NASA Live.

Participants are:

• David Brady, associate program scientist for the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, will provide an overview of the research and technology aboard the Cygnus spacecraft
• Karl Hasenstein, professor of biology at the University of Lafayette, and David Reed, Techshot Florida operations director, who will discuss the Plant Habitat-02 investigation, which will study how radishes grow in space to prepare for feeding future crews on deep-space missions
• Yusuf Erkul, co-founder and president of Kernal Biologics, who will discuss the Onco Selectors investigation, which leverages microgravity to identify targeted cancer therapies
• Jim Fuller of Collins Aerospace and Melissa McKinley, NASA Advanced Exploration Systems Logistics Reduction project manager, who will discuss the Universal Waste Management System, a more compact and reliable space toilet that will be used on the space station and on the Artemis II mission
• Carlos Cabrera, professor of chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras in San Juan, and Camila Morales-Navas, chemistry PhD student at the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras in San Juan, who will discuss the Ammonia Electro-Oxidation investigation, which studies a potential innovative water recovery system
• Felix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphael, co-founders and creative directors of Felix & Paul Studios, and Jonathan Woods, executive producer, TIME Studios, who will discuss the ISS Experience EVA Camera, which will be used to film a spacewalk and Earth views in cinematic 360-degree virtual reality
• Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA and Stéphane de La Faverie, group president, The Estée Lauder Companies and global brand president, Estée Lauder, who will discuss plans to photograph the company’s New Advanced Night Repair serum in the space station’s iconic cupola window as part of NASA’s efforts to enable business activities at the space station and develop a robust low-Earth orbit economy