NASA Astronaut to Help Build Martian Bedroom

NASA's Captain Mike Foreman of STS-120 takes a break with the Mission to Mars team on Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls. (Image credit: NASA.)

ANASA shuttle astronaut will hang up his spacesuit for a day Saturday to tryhis hand at interior decorating.

U.S.Navy Capt. Michael Foreman, set to fly to the International Space Station (ISS)aboard NASA's STS-120 shuttle flight, will appear in the television program TradingSpaces: Boys vs. Girls to assist in transforming a typical 10-year-old NewJersey boy's bedroom into a Martian landscape.

Foremanwill help in the installation of a mission control center and a Mars Exploration Roverthat will double as a bed. The program appears at 11:00 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. EST(1600 or 1630 GMT) on NBC's Discovery Kids channel (Check local listings).

Apint-sized version of its adult counterpart, Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girlsfeatures a boy and girl swapping bedrooms for a two-day room makeover. Duringtheir work, the children also compete in challenges to win help or clues abouttheir own room.

Inaddition to helping his team build a Martian bedroom, Foreman will also answerquestions about the ins and outs of the life of an astronaut on Discovery Kids.

Foremanreported to NASA for astronaut training in 1998 and is slated to launch aboardthe STS-120 spaceflight - about six flights after the shuttle Discovery'sSTS-121 mission - to deliver the U.S.-builtNode 2 to the ISS.

(Foreman's appearance on Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls is set to11:00 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. EST on Dec. 3, but will be rebroadcast Dec. 5 andDec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. (0030 and 0300 GMT on Dec. 6 and Dec. 10).

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Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.

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