NASA Reschedules Stardust-NExT Comet Flyby News Conference

NASA has rescheduled a news conference covering images and early data from last night’s Stardust-NExT comet flyby for today at 12:30 p.m. PST (3:30 p.m. EST).

The news conference was originally scheduled for 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST). The additional time will allow scientists to process and analyze data and images gathered when the spacecraft flew past Comet Tempel 1, with closest approach at a distance of 181 kilometers (112 miles). The mission team had expected the closest-approach images to be sent first. Instead, the images were downlinked in chronological order, starting with the most distant approach views.

The briefing will be at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and carried on NASA Television, the agency’s website and one of JPL’s Ustream channels.

Scheduled news conference participants are:

– Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Washington
– Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator, CornellUniversity, Ithaca, N.Y.
– Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager, JPL
– Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, University of Washington, Seattle
– Pete Schultz, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, Brown University,Providence, R.I.

Stardust-NExT images of Comet Tempel 1:
* http://www.nasa.gov/stardust
* http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

To cover the Tempel 1 news conference at JPL, journalists must contact the JPL Media Relations Office at +1 818-354-5011. Valid media credentials are required. Non-U.S. citizens must also bring passports.

NASA TV streaming video, scheduling, and downlink information: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

The briefing will also stream here: http://www.ustream.tv/user/NASAJPL2