Colonel Michael S. Hopkins will speak at a public presentation in Dunedin during a visit organised by Otago Museum.
Museum director of programmes and science engagement Craig Grant said Otago was able to ''piggy-back'' on another visit that Col Hopkins had planned to Auckland.
''Otago Museum worked with Nasa when we hosted Colonel Rex Walheim for the launch of our Perpetual Guardian Planetarium in December 2015.
''Through that relationship Nasa got in touch with us again when they knew one of their astronauts was likely to be heading to New Zealand to see if we wanted to tie into that visit,'' Mr Grant said.
Col Hopkins (49) would speak in Dunedin on April 10. The following day he would travel to Central Otago, where he would explore the Otago Central Interplanetary Cycle Trail, a one-hundred-million-to-one scale model of the Solar System, developed from an idea by Ian C. Begg, grandson of one of the founders of Dunedin's Beverly-Begg Observatory.
Otago Central Rail Trail Trust marketing manager Clare Toia-Bailey said it was exciting that Col Hopkins would be visiting the trail.
''The planets are located on the trail where their orbits would be in space,'' she said.
''I hope he is blown away and loves the concept of scale and distance,'' Ms Toia-Bailey said.
The next stop on his busy itinerary was Naseby, where Col Hopkins would officially open an exhibition of astrophotography.
Naseby Vision chairman John Crawford said the exhibition had recently been in Auckland and would be augmented with ''stunning images of Naseby night skies which have been taken by Otago photographers''.
Col Hopkins would then speak at a public event in Alexandra in the afternoon, hosted by the Centre for Space Science Technology (CSST)
CSST chief executive Steve Cotter said they were excited to be working with the Otago Museum to host Col Hopkins.
''We hope his visit will help further foster the emerging space community in New Zealand, and provide inspiration for young people in our region to pursue careers in science and technology,'' he said.
A second talk in Queenstown hosted by the Catalyst Trust was planned for the evening, then Col Hopkins would fly back to Houston from Queenstown Airport the following day.
Col Hopkins arrived at the International Space Station in September 2013, after being launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
He conducted two spacewalks to change a degraded pump module while he was there.
During his expedition, he experienced 2656 orbits of the earth, travelling over 112 million km.
The Otago Museum was funding the costs for the visit to Dunedin and Otago, and the Catalyst Trust was providing accommodation in Queenstown.
Mr Grant was delighted to be able to host Col Hopkins, even taking on driving duties himself during the visit.
''We see it as part of getting the Otago public exposed to science and seeing what it can do,'' Mr Grant said.
