Vice President John Farr attended a presentation "NASA Lifts Off" in California, USA which featured astronaut Heidmarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, who spoke about the U.S. space program.  Stefanyshyn-Piper works with the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in promoting pre-college programs to interest students in working for NASA or the space industry.  Stefanyshyn-Piper spoke about her two flights on the space shuttles Endeavor and Atlantis to help build the International Space Station.  She spent a total of 24 hours working outside the space station performing various tasks.  "At one point, I was outside at the very end of the space station and the Earth was right in front of me.  I turned around and the space station was behind me.  It was all white and silver against the black of space," said Stefanyshyn-Piper.  She went on in her talk to say it was an incredible sight.  

After the presentation to a large audience, Vice President Farr greeted Astronaut Stefanyshyn-Piper pausing for pictures from the press.  Farr said, "I was very impressed with the work being done by NASA especially reaching out to students to encourage them to study STEM subjects.  Astronaut Stefanyshyn-Piper is a very interesting person."

         The Vice President and U.S. Astronaut in California