From: yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Daily News for 10/06/92 (Forwarded)
Apparently-To: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Followup-To: sci.space
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 23:27:36 GMT

Daily                 News
Tuesday, October 6, 1992  24-hour audio service at 202/755-1788

 % NASA & Russians sign astronaut-cosmonaut and Mars agreements;
 % STS-52 Flight Readiness Review underway at Kennedy Space Center;
 % 2-mile wide asteroid to pass near Earth on December 8 as Galileo flys by;
 % Hubble, EUVE astronomers to present latest findings this Thursday.

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

NASA and the Russian Space Agency signed yesterday in Moscow two
cooperative agreements in the areas of human space flight and Mars
exploration.  NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said "signing these
agreements is the next crucial step in expanding cooperative activities
with our Russian partners.  We are very anxious to begin working on
these important programs."  One agreement calls for the flight of two
NASA scientific instruments on the Russian Mars '94 lander mission.
The other agreement calls for an experienced cosmonaut to fly aboard
the STS-60 space shuttle mission, now set for fall 1993, and for a NASA
astronaut to fly on a long-duration Mir Space Station flight.  That
flight will coincide with a shuttle-Mir docking flight in 1995.  The
NASA astronaut will fly to Mir aboard a Soyuz while the shuttle flies
two cosmonauts to the Russian space station.  Joint life sciences
experiments will be conducted while the shuttle and Mir are docked
together.

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

Work on Columbia to prepare for the STS-52 mission continues at the
Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-B.  Replacement of Columbia's main
engine #3 is complete, with engine leak testing currently underway.
The standard helium signature leak test of all three main engines and
the main propulsion system will be conducted tomorrow.  Elsewhere at
KSC, space flight management officials today are holding the STS-52
Flight Readiness Review.  At the review's conclusion later this
afternoon, management will issue a launch target date for Columbia,
tentatively set for Thursday, October 22.

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

On December 8 one of the largest near-Earth objects P a
two-mile-diameter (3.5 kilometer) asteroid called Toutatis 4179 P will
pass by the Earth at a distance of only 2.2 million miles (3.6 million
km).  Donald Yeomans, Jet Propulsion Laboratory chief of the Near Earth
Object Center, said the asteroid passes less than one degree above
Earth's orbital plane every four years, which makes it an ideal object
for Earth-based studies.  Viewing conditions for the upcoming asteroid
passage will be excellent for infrared and radar observations before,
during and after the flyby.  This happens also to be the date for the
second Earth flyby of Galileo, which will gain the final angular
momentum change it needs to get to Jupiter.  Galileo will pass within
200 miles of Earth on this last flyby.

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

NASA and university astronomers will present another in the Space
Astronomy Update series Thursday, Oct. 8, at 1:00 pm EDT in the NASA
Headquarters auditorium.  The briefing, which will present a striking
Hubble Space Telescope picture of cosmic mirror images and an Extreme
Ultraviolet Explorer image of a powerful object two billion light years
from the Milky Way, will be shown live on NASA Select television.  The
Hubble observations provide new information on distant galaxies and on
the distribution of mysterious dark matter, whose nature remains
unknown.  The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer data provides new
information about objects visible in that wavelength of light.
Briefers will include Richard Ellis, University of Durham, U.K.; Bruce
Margon, University of Washington, Seattle; Daniel Weedman, Pennsylvania
State University, University Park; and Steve Maran, Goddard Space
Flight Center.  Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer principal scientist Stuart
Bowyer, University of California at Berkeley, will present his team's
findings via videotape.

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


  
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.

Tuesday, October 6, 1992
Live  10:00 am STS-53  mission overview briefing with lead flight director Rob
               Kelso from Johnson Space Center.
Live  11:00 am Department of Defense payload briefing with Lt. Col. James
               McLeroy; Glow experiment briefing with Charles Pike; Cryogenic
	       Heat Pipe Experiment briefing with Mike Morgan; Space Tissue
	       Loss briefing with Bill Wiesmann; Battlefield Laser Acquisition
	       Sensor Test briefing with Lt. Col. Jan Drabczuk; and 
               Microcapsules in Space briefing with Tom Tice all from JSC.
Live  12:30 pm Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres briefing with Eugene
               Stansbery from JSC.
Live   2:00 pm STS-53 flight crew briefing with mission commander Dave Walker,
               mission pilot Bob Cabana, and mission specialists Guy Bluford,
	       Jim Voss, and Rich Clifford from JSC.
       4:00 pm 8:00 pm & 12:00 midnight programming repeats.

Wednesday, October 7, 1992
       1:30 pm through 4:30 pm Validation testing for 
               STS-52 mission (no programming).

Thursday, October 8, 1992
Live   1:00 pm Space Astronomy Update presenting new 
               Hubble Space Telescope and Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer 
               images and  featuring Richard Ellis, University of 
               Durham, U.K.; Bruce Margon, University of Washington, 
               Seattle; Daniel Weedman, Pennsylvania State University, 
               University Park; and Steve Maran, Goddard Space Flight 
               Center.  Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer principal scientist 
               Stuart Bowyer, University of California at Berkeley, will 
               present his team's findings via videotape.
       2:00 pm Total Quality Management Colloquium with 
               Edward Stone, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 
               on the topic of "Restructuring Cassini."
       4:00 pm 8:00 pm & 12:00 midnight programming repeats.
  
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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