WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Journalists are invited to participate in a NASA Social from 9:30 a.m. to noon EST Wednesday, Feb. 20, in the James Webb Auditorium of NASA Headquarters at 300 E St. SW in Washington.

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During this event, 150 social media followers and their guests will speak with three of the six crew members currently aboard the International Space Station orbiting about 240 miles above Earth. The participants also will hear from agency scientists and engineers about ground-breaking research taking place daily on the orbiting laboratory.

NASA Socials are in-person meetings for people who engage with the agency through Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and other social networks.

Participants in this NASA Social will learn about the discoveries enabled by the space station's unique microgravity environment that benefit humanity and increase our understanding of how humans can safely work and live in space for long periods.

Astronauts and officials scheduled to meet with the NASA Social participants are:

• Astronauts Kevin Ford and Tom Marshburn of NASA and Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency will participate from the space station
• NASA astronaut Don Pettit, a former space station resident
• Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations Mission Directorate
• Marshall Porterfield, director of NASA's Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications Division
• Tara Ruttley of NASA, an associate space station program scientist

NASA Television will broadcast the social from 10 a.m. to noon at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

In the afternoon, NASA has partnered with the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, where NASA Social participants will tour the Moving Beyond Earth and Space Race galleries, see demonstrations, interact with museum staff and and hear museum curators talk about the space station, robots in space and Skylab.

Registration for social media participants for this event has concluded. News media interested in attending either session of the NASA Social should contact Trent Perrotto at 202-358-1100 by 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 19. News media interested in covering the afternoon session also must contact Isabel Lara at the National Air and Space Museum at 202-633-2374 by 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 19.

To follow the conversation with the NASA Social participants as they experience the day's events, use hashtag #NASASocial or follow @NASA and @NASASocial on Twitter.

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

To find all the ways to connect with NASA on social media, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/connect

SOURCE NASA