Preview on Shuttle Return to Flight / ESA TV Exchanges / 10 July 2005

The next transmission of the ESA TV Service will be:

Preview on Shuttle Return to Flight

ESA TV Exchanges

11 July 15:00-15:15 GMT

Replay I: 12 July 09:15 GMT – 09:30 GMT

Replay II: 16 July 10:30-10:45 GMT

The US Space Shuttle is poised to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center as of 13 July at 19:51 GMT on a 12-day mission to the ISS. The success of the Return-to-Flight mission will give new momentum to the ISS, as future Shuttle missions will be transporting large modules from ESA, the Columbus Laboratory, Japan and the US into orbit to continue the Space Station’s assembly.

Eleven European countries, represented by ESA, together with the US, Russia, Japan and Canada are building the ISS. ESA’s Columbus and its sophisticated experiment facilities will allow crews of astronauts to conduct research and development in microgravity in material sciences, medicine, biology and technology, many eventually leading to benefits for everyday life on Earth.

The return-to-flight of the Space Shuttle also opens the door for missions by ESA astronauts, with Thomas Reiter of Germany scheduled to fly on the subsequent Space Shuttle in September for a six-month stay on board the ISS, and Christer Fuglesang of Sweden on a Shuttle mission in early 2006.

Today’s preview on the Shuttle Return to Flight enables broadcasters to cover this week’s main space story from a European perspective.

The script is online as a PDF file under http://television.esa.int/photos/EbS40762.pdf

A comprehensive 24-page ESA press kit with many colour illustrations and technical details on the Shuttle Return to Flight is online (3.2 MB) under http://television.esa.int/photos/RTF_Information_Kit.pdf

This ESA TV Exchanges feed is transmitted by the European Commission’s “Europe by Satellite” (EbS) service. You can find the complete transmission schedule and download scripts and shot lists, also for ESA TV items, from the EbS Web site at http://europa.eu.int/comm/ebs/schedule.cfm

For further information and a daily update of the transmission schedule, visit our website at http://television.esa.int. For all enquires, contact Claus Habfast, Tel +31 71 565 3838, Fax +31 71 565 6340, e-mail claus.habfast@esa.int.