posted 11-06-2007 03:31 PM               

quote:

---

Along with Center Director Mike Coats, family, friends, colleagues and public guests are encouraged to wish the Discovery crew well as they return from a successful mission in space. Come out Thursday, Nov. 8, to Ellington Field's Hangar 276 for a "welcome home" event beginning no earlier than 3 p.m. to honor the STS-120 crew: Commander Pam Melroy, Pilot George Zamka, and Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, Doug Wheelock, Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency and Clayton Anderson, Expedition 15/16 flight engineer. Gates to Ellington Field will open at 2:30 p.m.

---

posted 11-08-2007 11:06 AM               

The President's schedule while in Texas includes attending Houston and San Antonio fundraisers for Senator John Cornyn, who is seeking reelection in 2008. According to White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, Bush will also visit the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

posted 11-08-2007 11:36 AM               

• Shuttle and Station Crews Meet With President Bush at the White House
  
• Astronauts Honored at the White House
  
• Return to Flight Crew Visits the White House

• Apollo 11 Crew at the White House

posted 11-09-2007 03:08 AM               

quote:

---

Just a day after landing from their 15-day flight aboard space shuttle Discovery, the crew of STS-120 returned home to Houston on Thursday, where they were met by their NASA coworkers, family, friends, fans and the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

---

Pilot George Zamka:

quote:

---

I am in the Marine Corps, and a number of years ago I was on-board an amphibious ship and we were going to go out on a night raid and I was on a stairwell going on up to a steel door that led to the outside. If you are at all familiar with Navy ships, you know those doors, they are very heavy, they are water-tight doors that probably weigh about 200 pounds off their hinges. I put my hand in the doorway to help myself up and I had to pull up another Marine behind me because he had a lot of equipment. I heard a very loud clang and when I looked into the door, I saw that door had been slammed shut by the wind and my hand had disappeared into that door. So I was looking at this door and this rail and like part of my hand and the rest of it was kind of sticking out into it. I didn't know what was wrong with it, but at the time it was kind of a surreal moment. It looked very strange, kind of terrifying but kind of interesting. It didn't hurt at the time but it was definitely a moment of concern. Well you think, 'Boy, what's this guy telling us this for? Where's he going?'. Well the reason I tell you about that moment is that I had not felt that feeling until last week when I looked out Window 1 of Discovery, after I heard Pambo call the abort on the array deploy for array number 4B. The sun finally backed away from it and I saw a tear in that array that looked just completely surreal, terrifying. I didn't know what to do next. It was the very next time I had that feeling.

In the following 72 hours, I wouldn't have imagined I would be looking out that same window and seeing my heroes Doug on the end of the canister mast, Doug Wheelock, and Scott Parazynski on the very very end of the robotic arm and the boom, leaning out over this very same array where this tear was, repairing that array. That was an awesome sight and I don't think a camera view would do it justice and I don't think my words do it justice either.

---

quote:

---

One of the questions that I am asked often is 'So, what is it like the second time?'. I have to say that it is just as magical as the first. The view is spectacular, the experience is awesome.

---

quote:

---

It was really a good feeling [going] up there, being in microgravity, floating around, those sort of things. It's not so good when you come back and somebody turns on the gravity switch again. It's kind of bad. Maybe I was a Martian in a previous life or something like that.

---

quote:

---

For those of you who are standing through this whole thing, hang in there. I would stand up but the room would start to spin in a very rapid fashion and I would probably crash to the floor. For those who remain sitting through this whole thing, I haven't used my bottom in over five months and it's killing me.

...

I went up on June the 8th on STS-117 and six computers on the Russian segment quickly ground to a halt. Then the 118 crew came and someone's glove got punctured on an EVA, followed by a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico that was cruising toward the coast of Houston, so they all left early. And then of course, 120 arrives and a solar array rips and causes all sorts of problems. So I am pretty sure most everyone in this room is really glad to see me back on the ground.

...

But you know, when I graduated from college, I wanted to work at one place. I wanted to work at NASA, the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. And in January of this next year, I'll start my 25th year at this wonderful institution. And throughout those 24 and some odd years, I have worked with some of the most wonderful people on the planet Earth, from all countries and all parts of the world.

---

posted 11-09-2007 10:45 AM               

quote:

---

President George W. Bush greets the Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts outside Air Force One, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007, on the tarmac at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. President Bush congratulated Space Shuttle Commander Pamela Melroy, left, and fellow astronauts, from left, Pilot George Zamka and mission specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, Douglas Wheelock, Paolo Nespoli and Clayton Anderson, not seen in photo, on their successful 15-day mission to the International Space Station. White House photo by Eric Draper

---

posted 11-16-2007 10:21 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by fabfivefreddy:
Have there ever been any photos of President Bush with any astronauts?

---