From: yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Daily News for 09/08/92 (Forwarded)
Apparently-To: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Followup-To: sci.space
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 17:56:49 GMT

Daily                News
Tuesday, September 8, 1992  24-hour audio service at 202/755-1788

 % Endeavour preparations for Saturday's launch continue to go well;
 % NASA issues announcement for next set of Small Explorer missions;
 % Ames selects Cray Research to provide new supercomputer for NAS;
 % Langley Center selects Wyle Laboratories for instrument maintenance.

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

The final preparations for this Saturday's launch of Endeavour for the
seven-day scientific Spacelab-Japan flight are underway at Kennedy
Space Center.  The orbiter aft closeout process has been completed.
The external tank is undergoing its pre-load purging process today.
The flight crew, led by mission commander Robert Gibson, is scheduled
to arrive tomorrow morning.  The countdown for the mission begins at
T-43 hours tomorrow morning at 3:00 am.  Launch is set for 10:23 am,
Saturday, September 12.  The launch window extends through 2:17 pm.
The mission is scheduled for a conclusion on Sept. 19 with a landing at
KSC.  Present weather forecast for Saturday calls for clear skies and
light winds.

NASA will hold a series of pre-launch briefings for the mission
beginning tomorrow morning with a countdown status report at 11:00 am.
The next status report will be Thursday at 9:00 am.  On Friday the
briefings will start at 8:30 am and will cover the Spacelab-Japan
mission experiments and requirements; the Get Away Special and other
secondary experiments; and will conclude with a programmatic review at
11:30 am.  All the briefings will be covered live on NASA Select
television.

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

NASA has issued an announcement of opportunity to the scientific
community for the next set of Small Explorer missions.  The Small
Explorer program provides frequent flight opportunities for
tightly-focused and relatively inexpensive space science missions.  The
first Small Explorer, the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle
Explorer, was launched this July 3 and is presently performing well.
The current announcement solicits responses by this December 18 in
astrophysics and space particle physics disciplines.  Total costs for
development of missions, including developing the spacecraft, but
excluding mission operations and analysis, are expected to average less
than $35 million.  The announcement is open to all categories of
organizations including non- profit institutions, universities and
other educational institutions, NASA centers and other government
organizations, and foreign research institutions.

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

The Ames Research Center has selected Cray Research, Eagan, Minnesota,
for negotiation of a contract to provide a new supercomputer to the
center.  The estimated value of the contract is $74.3 million.  NASA's
Office of Aeronautical Research said the company was selected because
of the superior capabilities of the Y-MP C-90 computer and for the
company's history of providing NASA with reliable and cost-effective
facilities throughout past years.  Ames officials said this purchase
will allow the center to continue providing leading-edge computational
services to the U.S. aerospace community.  The Y-MP C-90 computer will
be able to perform more than six billion computations a secondPmaking
it one of the fastest computers in the world.  The computer will be
installed as an element of the center's Numerical Aerodynamic
Simulation Processing System Network.

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

The Langley Research Center last week selected Wyle Laboratories,
Hampton, for negotiation of a five-year contract to provide instrument
maintenance and calibration for the center's research departments.  The
contract is estimated at $75.5 million, with most of the work to be
performed at the Langley main site and at the Wallops Island Flight
Facility.

  
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.  Live indicates a
program is transmitted live.

Wednesday, September 9, 1992
Live  11:00 am  Countdown status briefing from 
                Kennedy Space Center, featuring Eric Redding, NASA Test 
                Director, and Glenn Snyder, STS-47 Payload Processing 
                Manager.

Thursday, September 10, 1992
Live   9:00 am  Countdown status briefing from 
                Kennedy Space Center, featuring Al Sofge, Shuttle Test 
                Director, Glenn Snyder, STS-47 Payload Processing 
                Manager, and Ed Priselac, Shuttle Weather Officer.

Friday, September 11, 1992
Live   8:30 am  Countdown status briefing from 
                Kennedy Space Center, featuring Al Sofge, Shuttle Test 
                Director,  and Glenn Snyder, STS-47 Payload Processing 
                Manager.
Live   9:00 am  Spacelab-Japan briefing from Kennedy 
                Space Center, featuring Fred Leslie, Marshall Space 
                Flight Center Mission Scientist, Aubray King, MSFC 
                Mission Manager, and Yoshinori Fujimoori, Japan National 
                Space Agency Project Scientist.
Live  10:00 am  Get Away Special briefing from 
                Kennedy Space Center, featuring Clarke Prouty, Goddard 
                Space Flight Center GAS mission manager, Kenneth Loth, 
                Swedish Space Corporation, Stephen Goodman, British 
                Aerospace, George Thomas, TRW, Jeff Slostad, University 
                of Washington, Diane Chenevert, Spar Aerospace, and David 
                Francisco, Lewis Research Center.
Live  11:00 am  ISAIAH briefing from Kennedy Space 
                Center, featuring Gary Gutschewski, Johnson Space Center 
                Mission Manager, Marvin George Klemov, Israeli Aircraft 
                Industries, and Jacob Ishay, Tel-Aviv University.
Live  11:30 am  Pre-Launch Press conference from 
                Kennedy Space Center, featuring Lennard Fisk, Associate 
                Administrator for Space Science and Applications, Leonard 
                Nicholson, Space Shuttle Manager, Robert Sieck, Kennedy 
                Space Center Launch Director, Mike Adams, US Air Force 
                Weather Liaison Officer, and a representative from the 
                Japan National Space Agency.

Saturday, September 12, 1992
Live  10:23 am  Scheduled launch time for Endeavour 
                for STS-47 Spacelab-Japan mission.

  
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.
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