From NASANews@luna.osf.hq.nasa.govSun Jan 28 12:36:32 1996 Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 14:44:15 -0500 From: NASA HQ Public Affairs Office To: press-release-com@mercury.hq.nasa.gov Subject: Launches and Science Briefings Scheduled for Polar and NEAR Donald Savage January 19, 1996 Headquarters, Washington, DC (Phone: 202/358-1547) Jim Sahli Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (Phone: 301/286-0697) George Diller Kennedy Space Center, FL (Phone: 407/867-2468) Luther Young Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory, MD (Phone: 301/953-6268) NOTE TO EDITORS: N96-3 LAUNCHES AND SCIENCE BRIEFINGS SCHEDULED FOR POLAR AND NEAR NASA managers yesterday approved the schedule for the launches of the upcoming Polar and Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) missions, both to be launched on Delta-II rockets built by McDonnell Douglas. The strategy calls for processing to proceed towards launch on February 2 for Polar at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA (VAFB) and February 16 for NEAR at Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL (CCAS). However, on or before January 26, the management team will again assess the situation based on the readiness of NEAR. If processing on NEAR is on schedule with no known constraints to meet its February 16th launch, the Polar launch will be rescheduled to February 22. Managers explain that since a single Delta launch team is responsible for both launches, there is not sufficient turnaround time to support a February 2 launch on the West coast and a February 16 launch on the East coast. There is no constraint to a February 22 launch of Polar at VAFB and the previously-scheduled launch of the Space Shuttle STS-75 mission from Kennedy Space Center, FL. SCIENCE BRIEFINGS The Polar science briefing will be held Tuesday, January 30, at 2 p.m. EST, at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (GSFC), in the Visitor Center on Soil Conservation Rd. Participants will be: Dr. Mario Acuna, ISTP/GGS Project Scientist, GSFC; Dr. Robert Hoffman, Deputy Polar Project Scientist, GSFC; Dr. Robert Carovillano, GGS Program Scientist, NASA HQ; Dr. Mary Hudson, Darmouth College, NH; Dr. David Chenette, Lockheed Palo Alto Research Lab, CA; and Joseph Dezio, Project Manager, Global Geospace Project, GSFC. The NEAR science briefing will be held Tuesday, February 6, at 2 p.m. EST at the NASA Headquarters auditorium, 300 E St., SW, Washington DC (West lobby). Participants will be Dr. John Kerridge, NEAR Program Scientist, NASA HQ; Dr. Andrew Cheng, NEAR Project Scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) and other panelists to be announced later. Both briefings will be carried live on NASA Television via Spacenet 2 Transponder 5, Channel 9, at 69 degrees West longitude. The frequency is at 3880.0 megahertz, audio at 6.8 megahertz. There will be 2-way question and answer capability for reporters covering the briefings from participating NASA Centers. - end - NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. NASA releases also are available via via CompuServe using the command GO NASA.