From: NASANews@hq.nasa.gov (by way of Jan Wee <jwee@mail.arc.nasa.gov>)
Subject: Robotic Mars Landing and Space Shuttle Reflight Highlight a
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 15:46:16 -0500
Dear discuss-lfm and ptk-advocate members,
This just arrived NASA press release details coverage
plans for the week of June 30th, including Mars
Pathfinder Coverage Information.
Jan Wee, moderator
Douglas Isbell
Headquarters, Washington, DC June 24, 1997
(Phone: 202/358-1753)
Franklin O'Donnell
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-5011)
Rob Navias
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-3671)
NOTE TO EDITORS: N97-44
ROBOTIC MARS LANDING AND SPACE SHUTTLE REFLIGHT HIGHLIGHT A BUSY
AND CHALLENGING WEEK FOR U.S. SPACE PROGRAM
The week of June 30 promises to be a busy and memorable one
in the history of space exploration, with the landing of NASA's
Mars Pathfinder spacecraft on Independence Day, a Space Shuttle
launch of the STS-94 microgravity science mission, and ongoing
activities on Russia's Mir space station.
NASA will offer near-continuous access to these events for
the media and the general public. In addition to standard Space
Shuttle-related mission activities, NASA TV will provide coverage
of daily status briefings on Mars Pathfinder and extensive live
programming on July 4-6 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
in Pasadena, CA. Telephone audio links will be available during
overlapping events and numerous Internet sites are accessible for
status reports and imagery. JPL also will operate a full-service
newsroom for the Pathfinder landing from June 30 to at least July 11.
The latest comprehensive schedule for NASA TV, and updates to
it as events progress, is available from NASA Headquarters; JPL;
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX; and, Kennedy Space Center, FL.
It also is available on-line at the following URL:
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/statrpt/jsc/tvsked/tvsked.txt
Mars Pathfinder Coverage Information
News media should contact JPL's Public Information Office at
818/354-5011 for information on credentials for its newsroom.
Please also notify JPL if you have a need for a Mission Audio feed
of the STS-94 mission distributed to your work location in the von
Karman Auditorium.
Beginning on June 30, the Mars Pathfinder landing newsroom at
JPL will be open at 818/354-8999, during at least the following
hours (all times EDT):
June 30-July 2 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
July 3 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
July 4 9:30 a.m.-3 a.m.
(July 5)
July 5-6 11 a.m.-3 a.m.
July 7-11 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Status reports on mission activities for Mars Pathfinder will
be issued by the JPL Public Information Office. Daily audio
status reports will be available by calling 800/391-6654 or
818/354-4210.
A pre-landing briefing on Mars Pathfinder and its science
objectives at Mars will be held at JPL on Tuesday, July 1, at 1
p.m. EDT. If the STS-94 launch remains scheduled for this date,
this briefing will not be shown live on NASA TV. A taped
rebroadcast of this briefing currently is planned for later that
evening and the next morning. Media can access a live audio feed
of this briefing by calling 818/354-6170. During the briefing,
the STS-94 countdown can be heard on a Mission Audio feed to JPL.
Extensive information on Mars Pathfinder, including an
electronic copy of the landing press kit, related press releases,
fact sheets, status reports and images, is available from the JPL
World Wide Web home page at URL:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/marsnews
The Mars Pathfinder project also maintains a home page at URL:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mpfmir
These sites may receive heavy traffic on the days close to
landing, but Internet users around the world can follow the
mission by way of multiple local mirror sites that are now on-
line, with links listed at the Web site above. The Internet sites
feature updates on mission activities and will provide Pathfinder
photographs of the Martian surface, once they become available.
The sites also will feature a bird's eye view of the Mars
Pathfinder mission operations area at JPL, via a live video camera
feed that is updated every 15 minutes.
Images returned by the Mars Pathfinder lander and rover will
be released to the news media in electronic format only during the
mission via addresses furnished to media upon request. These
sites will include files offering the highest spatial and color
resolution of images returned by the Pathfinder lander and rover.
Images also will be carried on NASA Television during daily Video
File broadcasts.
STS-94 Coverage Information
As with all Space Shuttle missions, the Johnson Space Center
newsroom will be staffed 24-hours a day throughout the 16-day STS-
94 mission, Microgravity Science Laboratory-1, beginning at 9 a.m.
EDT on July 1. Information regarding the mission can be obtained
by calling the JSC Newsroom at 281/483-5111.
Information on STS-94 is available through several sources on
the Internet. The primary source for mission information is the
NASA Shuttle Web. This site contains information on the crew and
their mission and will be regularly updated with status reports,
photos and video clips throughout the flight. The NASA Shuttle
Web's address is URL:
http://shuttle.nasa.gov
If that address is busy or unavailable, the STS-94 Countdown
Page can be found at URL:
http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-94/countdown.html
and the MSL-1 Home Page can be found at URL:
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov
Television coverage of STS-94 on NASA TV during the heaviest
period of Mars Pathfinder activities will include update reports,
Flight Day Highlights, the "Mission Update" program and Mission
Status Briefings, when warranted. Uninterrupted air-to-ground
feeds of conversations between the astronauts in orbit and ground
controllers along with mission commentary can continue to be heard
on Mission Audio, which will be distributed to the NASA centers,
as is usually the case during Shuttle flights.
During the time when Mars Pathfinder activity is seen on NASA
TV, a clean TV feed of Shuttle coverage also will be available at
JSC. Reporters covering Mars Pathfinder at either JPL or the
Kennedy Space Center will not be able to obtain a clean TV feed of
Shuttle coverage after launch, only the programmed feed of both
Mars Pathfinder and Shuttle activities through NASA TV.
If the launch of STS-94 is delayed until July 4, NASA will
issue an updated TV events programming schedule at the Web site
listed at the beginning of this Note To Editors.
NASA Television is broadcast on the satellite GE-2,
transponder 9C, C Band, 85 degrees West longitude, frequency
3880.0 MHz, vertical polarization, audio monaural at 6.8 MHz.
-end-