U.S. astronaut in Prague

Prague, July 31 2015 – A veteran of NASA spaceflights Scott Edward Parazynski, who served as mission specialist during five missions onboard the U.S. space shuttle and seven times stepped into outer space, is going to visit the Czech Republic. He had been invited by the Czech Space Office with great support of the U.S. Embassy.

54 years old physician, pilot, adventurer and former astronaut Scott Parazynski involved in NASA research activities already during his studies at Stanford University in the late 80s. In 1992, he successfully passed the selection process and after a year of training at the Johnson Space Center he qualified for the position of NASA flight specialist. Consequently, he underwent basic training for extra-vehicular activity. He participated in his first spaceflight in November 1994 onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis and though became the 318th human in space. "Scott Parazynski was after selected as one of the astronauts for a long stay on the Mir station. Unfortunately, his physical height exceeded the allowable limit for the Russian Soyuz-TM. He was therefore excluded from the training and he had to settle for a flight to Mir with a Space Shuttle in 1997," explained Michal Václavík from the Czech Space Office.

"Afterwards, Scott Parazynski visited the orbit three more times in 1998, 2001 and 2007 and he visited the International Space Station (ISS) twice. During one of these missions his colleague onboard the Space Shuttle was the oldest astronaut, a legend of U.S. space program, John Herschell Glenn, who had been at the time of the flight 77 years old. He also went through a very demanding unscheduled repair of photovoltaic panel on ISS," added Václavík. Scott Parazynski as an astronaut retired in 2009. During the five spaceflights he spent 57 days 15 hours and 34 minutes in orbit. He stepped to the outer space seven times and spent 47 hours and 5 minutes in extra-vehicular activity. He is the only astronaut in the world who has climbed the Mount Everest.

During his stay in the Czech Republic, Scott Parazynski will present his experiences in two public lectures that are planned on Monday, August 24 in building of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague. "The lectures will be open to all who are interested in astronautics and want to hear about the experiences and the life of the astronaut. The program will also include time for curious questions of the audience," concluded Václavík.

The first lecture will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and will be translated into Czech. Questions from the audience will be translated into English. The ticket price is CZK 100. The second lecture will be held 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and will be in English only, providing more time for questions. The ticket price is CZK 70. You can buy a ticket by clicking the link on the left panel of this page.