To: SCIENCE EDITORS Contact: Brenda Cabaniss or Jenna Mills of NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, +1-281-483-5111 HOUSTON, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The honoree won't be there because he's orbiting the Earth more than 200 miles up at a speed of about 5 miles per second.

HAMPTON, Va., July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA Astronaut Christopher Cassidy will join a team of explorers -- from NASA and from Jamestown, Va. -- in Boston July 14, and will give a glimpse into exploration of the future, tying it to adventures from 400 years ago.

Chris Cassidys first day as an astronaut was pretty standard: filling out paperwork and picking up his official NASA badge.

When President Bush announced earlier this year a renewed commitment to send astronauts back to the moon and beyond, Christopher Cassidy heard in his words a stirring invitation to both his country and to himself.

For most people, being dropped into the woods of Rangeley with not much more than a compass, map and bayonet would be difficult. But for Chris Cassidy, a York High School graduate and one of NASA's newest astronaut candidates, the three-day survival training was a homecoming.