The Inauguration Committee for President-elect Barack Obama officially extended an invitation Wednesday for NASA to be part of the 56th Inaugural Parade on Jan. 20.
 
The crew of NASA’s recent STS-126 space shuttle mission and other agency officials will join representatives from across the country and our armed forces in this historic parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington following swearing-in ceremonies on the steps of the Capitol.
 
Chris Ferguson commanded the STS-126 mission and was joined by Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Donald Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Sandra Magnus. Magnus remained aboard the station, replacing Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff, who returned to Earth on Endeavour after more than five months on the station.
 
In addition to the Endeavour crew, the NASA contingent will include a small pressurized rover. That vehicle is a concept for a new generation of lunar rovers that astronauts will take with them when
they return to the Moon by 2020. The rovers are being tested at sites around the country that have terrain similar to the Moon’s.
 
Organizations wishing to participate in the parade submitted applications to the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee. A total of 1,382 organizations applied to participate.
 

 
Nov 20: Astronaut Shane Kimbrough, STS-126 mission specialist, participates in the mission’s second scheduled session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 45-minute spacewalk, Kimbrough and astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (out of frame), mission specialist, continued the process of removing debris and applying lubrication around the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), replaced four more of the SARJ’s 12 trundle bearing assemblies, relocated two equipment carts and applied lubrication to the station’s robotic Canadarm2. Credit: NASA
 
STS-126 coverage: http://sts-126.space.gs

 - courtesy of David Mould, NASA Headquarters; Shin Inouye, Presidential Inaugural Committee, Washington DC.