Briefings Focus on Space Station Crew Exchange Mission
Space Shuttle Endeavour’s mission delivering a new crew to
the International Space Station will be the focus of press
briefings beginning at 9 a.m. EST, Tuesday, Nov. 13, from
NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The briefings will
air on NASA Television.
The orbiter’s 17th voyage into space — designated STS-108 —
centers on delivering the Expedition Four crew to the station
and returning the Expedition Three crew to Earth following
four months in space.
Endeavour’s cargo bay will house the Raffaello Multi Purpose
Logistics Module (MPLM), one of three high-tech moving vans
provided to the program by the Italian Space Agency, and
hardware for a spacewalk to install protective thermal
blankets on station solar-array motors that precisely point
the huge solar gathering “wings” delivered to the station a
year ago.
Endeavour currently is scheduled to launch Nov. 29 from
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Shuttle and station
managers are scheduled to meet Nov. 15 to assess the
readiness of Endeavour, the International Space Station, the
crew, and launch and flight control teams for the mission.
The meeting will conclude with the selection of a firm launch
date.
The mission marks the fourth use of the MPLM cargo carrier,
which will deliver some two tons of hardware, clothing, food
and supplies for use by the Expedtion Four crew. Raffaello
currently is in an alternating rotation with its sister
module, Leonardo, which has already been used twice.
The briefings will begin with a space station program
overview and conclude with a joint crew news conference.
Interviews with the STS-108 and Expedition Four crewmembers
will follow. The interviews will be with reporters at Johnson
and with media representatives who have made arrangements in
advance to participate by telephone. These interviews will
not be televised and space is limited.
Reporters planning to attend the briefings and participate in
the round-robin interviews must contact the Johnson newsroom
at 281/483-5111 by 6 p.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 8.
NASA Television is available on GE-2, Transponder 9C, at 85
degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, with a
frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio of 6.8 MHz.
-end-
STS-108 AND EXPEDITION FOUR PREFLIGHT BRIEFINGS
November 13, 2001
(all times EST)
9 a.m. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION OVERVIEW
Bill Gerstenmaier, International Space Station Deputy Program
Manager
10 a.m. STS-108 MISSION OVERVIEW
Wayne Hale, STS-108 Lead Flight Director
Sally Davis, STS-108 ISS Lead Flight Director
Suzan Voss, STS-108 Launch Package Manager
11 a.m. STS-108 SPACEWALK OVERVIEW
Kieth Johnson, STS-108 Lead EVA Officer
1:30 p.m. EXPEDITION FOUR MISSION OVERVIEW
Susan Brand, Expedition Four Increment Manager
John Uri, Lead Increment Scientist
Tim Horvath, Expedition Four Lead Payload Operations
Director, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
2 p.m. EXPEDITION FOUR CREW NEWS CONFERENCE
Yury Onufrienko, Expedition Four Commander
Carl Walz, Expedition Four Flight Engineer
Dan Bursch, Expedition Four Flight Engineer
3 p.m. STS-108/EXPEDITION FOUR CREW NEWS CONFERENCE
Dom Gorie, Commander
Mark Kelly, Pilot
Mission Specialist 1 (MS 1) Linda Godwin
Mission Specialist 2 (MS 2) Dan Tani
Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko
Expedition Four Flight Engineer Carl Walz
Expedition Four Flight Engineer Dan Bursch
4 p.m. ROUND-ROBIN INTERVIEWS (NOT ON NASA TV)
