International Space Station to Meet its “Destiny”- Briefings Jan. 11

NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, will hold a series of briefings Jan. 11 to discuss the upcoming flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis to deliver the U.S. laboratory, called Destiny, to the International Space Station.
 
The 11-day STS-98 mission will see the station continue to grow in both size and capability with the addition of its first research facility. The 28-foot long, 16-ton research and command-and- control center is the most sophisticated and versatile space laboratory ever built. It will ultimately house a total of 23 experiment racks for crew support and scientific research that can be removed and replaced periodically as experiment operations warrant. This versatility will allow researchers from around the world to conduct experiments in the unique microgravity environment of space as never before. 
 
The briefings will begin at 9 a.m. EST with an overview of the International Space Station program. An overview of the mission will begin at 10 a.m. and be followed at 11 a.m. by a briefing on the Destiny laboratory. Following a break at 12 noon EST for the daily NASA Video File, the briefings will continue at 12:30 p.m. with an overview of the three space walks slated for this mission to complete external outfitting of the orbiting laboratory. A discussion of research aboard the ISS will begin at 1:30 p.m. In the final briefing of the day, beginning at 2:30 p.m., Atlantis’ five astronauts will discuss their preparations for the upcoming flight. All the briefings will be broadcast live on NASA Television.
 
NASA TV is available through the GE-2 satellite, transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio at 6.8 MHz.
 
Following the STS-98 mission briefings, round-robin interviews with the crewmembers will be held for reporters at JSC and reporters who make advance arrangements to participate by phone. Media wishing to participate in the round-robin interviews must fax their request to the Johnson newsroom at 281/483-2000 no later than 5 p.m. EST, Tuesday, Jan. 9.
 
              STS-98 PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFINGS
                Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001
              (all times shown are EST)
 
9 a.m. International Space Station Program Overview
      Tommy Holloway, International Space Station Program Manager       Bob Cabana, Deputy Program Manager, International
Operations
 
10 a.m. STS-98 Mission Overview
        Robert Castle, Lead Shuttle Flight Director, STS-98
        Andy Algate, Lead ISS Flight Director, STS-98
 
11 a.m. U.S. Destiny Laboratory Overview
        Suzan Voss, STS-98 Launch Package Manager
 
12 p.m. NASA TV Video File (from NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC)
 
12:30 p.m. STS-98 Space-Walk Overview
        Kerri Knotts, STS-98 Lead EVA Officer
 
1:30 p.m. ISS Science Overview
        Roger Crouch, ISS Chief Scientist, NASA Headquarters
        John Uri, ISS Increment Scientist
 
2:30 p.m.    STS-98 Crew News Conference
        Ken Cockrell, Commander
        Mark Polansky, Pilot
        Robert Curbeam, Mission Specialist 1
        Marsha Ivins, Mission Specialist 2
 
        Thomas Jones, Mission Specialist 3
 
3:30 p.m.    STS-98 Crew Round-Robin Interviews
        (These interviews are local only and will not be carried on NASA TV)