Contact
Steve Roy
Media Relations Department
(256) 544-0034
steve.roy@msfc.nasa.gov

Release: 01-152

Highland Park, Ill., native plays key role in International Space Station science operations

A NASA engineer from Highland Park, Ill., is playing an important role in the worldwide science operations for the International Space Station.

Eric Melkerson is a member of the team that coordinates Space Station science research from the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Payload Operations Center is the science command post for the Space Station - the most ambitious research endeavor ever undertaken.

As a Shuttle operations coordinator, Melkerson is responsible for monitoring all Space Station payloads - the science experiments and facilities - while they are aboard the Shuttle. He also helps plan science missions and coordinate communications between scientists on the ground with astronauts aboard the Space Station.

Melkerson joined the NASA ISS team in 1989 as an attitude determination and control officer at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and recently moved to his new position at the Marshall Center in Huntsville.

Managing the science activities - as well as the time and space required to accommodate experiments and programs from a host of private, commercial, industry and government agencies worldwide - makes the job of coordinating Space Station research a critical one.

Three shifts of 13 to 19 flight controllers staff the Payload Operations Center around the clock.

The Payload Operations Center became fully operational with the launch of the Space Station crew March 8.

The new facility is housed in a section of the Huntsville Operations Support Center - a historic complex that provided engineering support for Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle launches, as well as Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory operations. The complex also houses the Spacelab Mission Operations Control Center from which more than 25 Shuttle-based science missions were controlled.

More information on the Payload Operations Center and the Space Station science operations can be found on the Internet at:

http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov

NOTE TO EDITORS / NEWS DIRECTORS: Eric Melkerson is available for interviews, which can be arranged by contacting Steve Roy of the Marshall Center Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034.