Space Station Crew To Welcome First Visitors; Spread Its Wings For Power

The International Space Station crew, its first space visitors, and activities that will create the most powerfulspacecraft in history will all be the subject of a series of briefings starting at 9 a.m. EST, Monday, Nov. 13, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX.

During the next mission aboard a space shuttle, astronauts will connect a package of giant solar arrays and associated electronics, batteries, radiators and support structure to the station. The U.S.-developed, 240-foot long arrays will generate a level of electricity that could power 30 average earth homes, and will be the first of three such sets of arrays that will be attached to the station in coming years.

The 17-ton truss segment will be the heaviest and largest element yet delivered to the station on a space shuttle. The space shuttle mission, designated STS-97, also will be the first shuttle mission to visit an inhabited International Space Station, setting the stage for arrival of the first station laboratory early next year.

Veteran Astronaut Brent Jett (Cmdr., USN) is Commander of the mission and Michael Bloomfield (Lt. Col., USAF) is Pilot. They will be accompanied by Mission Specialists Joe Tanner, Carlos Noriega (Lt. Col., USMC) and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Marc Garneau.

All briefings will be broadcast live on NASA Television, and questions will be taken from media at participating NASA centers.

NASA TV is available on the GE-2 satellite, transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees W. longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz and audio at 6.8 MHz.

Limited interview opportunities with members of the flight crew will immediately follow the crew press conference for reporters at the Johnson Space Center and for those reporters who make advance arrangements to participate by telephone. Media wishing to participate in the crew interviews must fax their request to the JSC newsroom at (281) 483-2000 by close of business, Thursday, Nov. 9.

                      Briefings
                  Monday, Nov. 13, 2000                    (all times EST)

9 a.m.
International Space Station Overview
Tommy Holloway, International Space Station Program Manager
Robert Cabana, Deputy ISS Manager for International Operations

10 a.m.
Space Shuttle STS-97 Mission Overview
Bill Reeves, STS-97 Lead Flight Director
Jeff Hanley, ISS Lead Flight Director

11 a.m.
ISS Solar Arrays Overview
Ron Torcivia, Launch Package Manager

1 p.m.
STS-97 Extravehicular Activity Overview Briefing
Glenda Laws, STS-97 Lead EVA Officer

2 p.m.
STS-97 Science Payloads Briefing
John Uri, ISS Increment Scientist

2:30 p.m.
STS-97 Crew News Conference

3:30 p.m.
STS-97 Crew Round-Robin Interviews

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