Headline News
Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters

  Friday, May 22, 1992  Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Friday, May 22, 1992 . . .

On Tuesday, May 26, Administrator Daniel Goldin will address 
NASA employees at 1:30 pm EDT on NASA Select television.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Endeavour will not be ferried back to Florida today.  Weather 
between California and Texas is unacceptable again.  The 747 Shuttle 
Carrier Aircraft crew will continue to assess the weather conditions on 
a day-by-day basis.  There is a 50-50 chance of being able to take off 
tomorrow.  The flight still requires a refueling stop and, given enroute 
weather conditions, the SCA/Endeavour pair may remain at the stop 
until weather improves.  Because of the changing weather conditions, 
there is no single designated refueling stop, but rather a set of airfields 
which could be used should the flight get underway this weekend.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On Tuesday, May 26, NASA will hold the pre-launch 
background briefings for Columbia's STS-50 US Microgravity 
Laboratory-1 mission.  Flight director Bob Castle, Johnson Space 
Center, and mission manager Charles Sprinkle, Marshall Space Flight 
Center, will begin the series of briefings at 9:30 am EDT with a 
mission overview.  At 10:30 am EDT, USML-1 program scientist Dr. 
Roger Crouch and mission scientist Dr. Don Frazier will discuss the 
science investigations planned for the 13-day mission.  At noon, JSC 
chief of medical sciences Dr. Sam Pool will discuss medical issues 
associated with this first extended duration mission.  At 2:30 pm EDT, 
mission commander Dick Richards and his six-person crew will give 
their briefing and take questions from the news media.  The briefings 
will be carried live on NASA Select television.

Technicians working on Columbia expect to be able to move that 
orbiter from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly 
Building on Wednesday, May 27, as preparations for Columbia's 
STS-50 US Microgravity Laboratory-1 mission near completion.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Kennedy Space Center payload processing technicians last evening 
moved the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer spacecraft from its 
cleanroom in Hangar AE to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 
Launch Complex 17 area.  The spacecraft will be mated to the Delta 
2 launch vehicle today and will then undergo a series of integrated 
spacecraft/launch vehicle tests.  The presently scheduled launch 
window opens at 12:23 pm EDT on Thursday, June 4, and 
extends until 1:43 pm EDT.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The STS-49 crew will hold their post-mission press conference 
next Friday, May 29,  at the Johnson Space Center at 10:00 am EDT.  
The crew will show movies and still photographs they took during the 
daring and successful satellite rescue mission.  The briefing will be 
carried live on NASA Select television.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jet Propulsion Laboratory flight controllers report that Magellan 
continues to perform nominally in its radar-mapping orbit 
about Venus.  A special three-orbit high-resolution altimetry test is 
scheduled to be performed by Magellan this Sunday, May 24.  As of 
this week, Magellan has mapped more than 97 percent of the surface of 
Venus.  About 35 percent of the surface mapping has been performed 
in both right-looking and left-looking modes.  Approximately 20 
percent of the surface has been imaged in different, left-looking, 
radar incidence angles producing true stereographic coverage.

  
Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on 
NASA Select TV.  Note that all events and times may change 
without notice, and that all times listed are Eastern.

Friday, May 22, 1992
    12:00 pm  NASA Today news program.
    12:15 pm  Age of Space Transportation.
    12:30 pm  Progress in Aeronautics.
     1:00 pm  STS-1 - A Remarkable Flying Machine.
     1:30 pm  Life into Space.
     2:00 pm  Starfinder program #9.
     2:15 pm  Aeronautics & Space Report.
     2:30 pm  Life in the Universe program #9.
     3:00 pm  Journey through the Solar System program #9.
     3:30 pm  And Then There Was Voyager.
     4:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
     8:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
    12:00 am  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.

Tuesday, May 26, 1992
     9:30 am  Flight director and mission manager background 
                     briefing on STS-50 mission overvue, from Johnson 
                     Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center.
    10:30 am  Program and mission scientists briefing on overall 
                     science objectives of US Microgravity Laboratory-1 
                     experiments aboard STS-50 mission, from Marshall 
                     Space Flight Center.
    12:00 pm  Medical science briefing on crew health aspects of the STS-50
		     long duration mission, from Johnson Space Center.
     1:30 pm  Administrator Daniel Goldin addresses NASA employees.
     2:30 pm  STS-50 flight crew briefing from Johnson Space Center.

Friday, May 29, 1992
    10:00 am  STS-49 flight crew post-mission press conference 
                     from Johnson Space Center.

  
This report is filed daily at noon, Monday through Friday.  It is 
a service of NASA's Office of Public Affairs.  The editor is 
Charles Redmond, 202/453-8425 or CREDMOND on NASAmail.  
NASA Select TV is carried on GE Satcom F2R, transponder 13, 
C-Band, 72 degrees West Longitude, transponder frequency is 
3960 MegaHertz, audio subcarrier is 6.8 MHz, polarization is 
vertical.