Thursday October 5: 12:00-13:00 Eastern: The Pre-Flight Briefing
A one-hour LIVE briefing on the upcoming observing missions, for students and
teachers. The program will originate directly from the KAO's hangar at NASA's
Ames Research Center in California. During the show, students will meet and
interact via TV and the Internet with the astronomers, aircrew and the teacher
and students who will travel aboard the KAO during the live observing flights.
Thursday October 12: 14:30-17:00 Eastern: The Jupiter Mission
A two and a half-hour LIVE flight, primarily observing the planet Jupiter.
Interactive video uplinks from NASA Ames, and selected science museums and
schools across the nation will connect students to astronomers onboard the KAO
and to each other. Discussion of the KAO's unique observations of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9's impact with Jupiter in summer 1994, and Halley's comet.
Hands-on activities will involve live data and images from the KAO.
Friday October 13 (through early 14th.) 20:00- 01:00 Eastern: Night
Flight to the Stars
A five-hour LIVE flight. The astronomical object involved will include: - the
star-forming regions M17 and W51 - the Ring Nebula -- a place where a star has
died in spectacular and beautiful fashion - Saturn and its mysterious moon,
Titan - the face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Uplinks from science museums around the
nation, some of which are hosting overnight camp-ins and "star-parties", and
selected schools, which each "anchor" the live broadcast for a portion of the
flight. Online Internet activities permit additional connections to the KAO as
well as allowing real-time collaboration between students at the remote sites.
Tuesday October 31 14:00-15:00: Return to the Stratosphere
A videotaped digest of all the previous programming, providing an "evergreen"
compilation of the astronomy seen during these unique KAO missions. This digest
will include the rights to re-use the video in class in years to come.
In addition, NASA Television will be simulcasting the programs. Many cable television systems receive and redistribute NASA-TV, particularly during Space Shuttle missions. Consider contacting your local system to see if they might redistribute NASA-TV during the Live From the Stratosphere events. For those with access to satellite reception, NASA Television is carried on Spacenet 2, transponder 5, Channel 9, C-Band, located at 69 degrees West longitude, with horizontal polarization. Frequency is 3880 MHz with audio on 6.8 MHz.
Community access television stations, education TV systems and community colleges are other resources which might potentially carry the programs if requested by you.
The schedule for the remainder of the programs depends on whether a Shuttle mission is in progress or not. IF THERE IS NO SHUTTLE MISSION IN PROGRESS: 10/12 (14:30 - 17:00) Begin live coverage at 2:30, break for the 3:00 p.m. Video File (similar situation as above), and resume live coverage until 5:00. 10/13 (20:00 - 01:00) Will carry live coverage. 10/31 (14:00 to 15:00) Will carry as scheduled. IF STS-73 IS IN PROGRESS, BASED ON CURRENT LAUNCH SCHEDULE (All events subject to preemption by Shuttle events) 10/12 Will tape and replay same day from 20:00 - 22:30 Eastern 10/13 Will carry live coverage beginning at 20:00. Will break intermittently for a few minutes for space shuttle updates 10/31 Will carry as scheduled. IF THE SHUTTLE LAUNCHES BUT IS DELAYED, A REVISED SCHEDULE WILL BE DEVELOPED AND SHARED HERE
