Shuttle Discovery, Carrier Aircraft to Leave Dryden Tuesday

Alan Brown

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

Phone: (661) 276-2665

RELEASE No: 00-81

The Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to depart NASA’s Dryden
Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base atop a modified
Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) Tuesday morning, Oct. 31,
for the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla. Takeoff is tentatively
slated for about 10 a.m.

The current flight plan calls for the craft to make an intermediate
overnight stop in Fort Worth, Texas, and continue on to the Kennedy
Space Center on Wednesday. Ferry flight rules state that the orbiter
and SCA cannot fly through precipitation, thick clouds or high
turbulence, and there are also wind and temperature restrictions as
well.

Installation of the tailcone over the Shuttle’s engine area to reduce
aerodynamic drag on the ferry flight is scheduled for today, and
mating of the Discovery to the 747 SCA will occur overnight.

The Discovery landed at Edwards last Tuesday after an almost 13-day,
203-orbit mission STS-92 to outfit the International Space Station
for its first resident crew, which is scheduled to be launched
Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian
Soyuz capsule.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

News media representatives wishing to cover the takeoff of the
piggyback craft should FAX a request for accreditation to (661)
276-3566, or phone the Dryden public affairs office at (661) 276-3449
by noon today. Media representatives should plan to arrive at the
NASA Dryden Public Affairs Office, Bldg. 4839, by 9 a.m. A media
escort will depart the public affairs office at approximately 9:15
a.m. to convoy photographers, videographers and reporters to the
media viewing site along the runway where the Shuttle Carrier
Aircraft and the Discovery will take off. We regret that live
transmission of video/audio cannot be accommodated for this activity.

For the latest update on the shuttle departure schedule, news media
may call (661) 276-2564.