April 24, 1997

Debra Rahn
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
(Phone: 202/358-1639)

Rob Navias / Ed Campion
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

Release: N97-27

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Briefings Set for Next Shuttle-Mir Docking Mission

A series of briefings on the next flight of the Shuttle Atlantis to link up to the Russian space station Mir will be held at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, TX, on Friday, May 2. The briefings will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

The fourth mission of 1997, STS-84 is targeted for launch around May 15 to carry seven astronauts into orbit, including Mike Foale, who will become the fifth U.S. astronaut to conduct research on Mir. Foale will replace Jerry Linenger, who arrived on the Mir in January as part of the STS-81 crew. Linenger will return home aboard Atlantis.

The briefings will begin on May 2 at 8 a.m. CDT (all times listed are CDT) with an overview of the Shuttle-Mir Phase One Program, followed at 9:30 a.m. with the Mission Overview briefing, conducted by STS-84 Lead Flight Director Phil Engelauf. The NASA TV Video File will air at 11 a.m.. The briefings will resume at 12 noon with the SPACEHAB briefing. The briefings will wrap up with the STS-84 Crew News Conference at 1 p.m.

Individual round-robin interviews with the STS-84 astronauts will be held after the crew news conference for reporters attending the briefing at JSC and for those who make special arrangements in advance to conduct the interviews by phone. NOTE: Reporters interested in round-robin interviews with the STS-84 astronauts should fax a letter of interest to Steve Nesbitt in JSC Public Affairs by close of business on April 30. The fax number for the JSC Public Affairs office is 281/483-2000. The round-robin interviews will not be seen on NASA TV.

NASA Television is available through the GE2 satellite which is located on Transponder 9C, at 85 degrees West longitude, frequency 3880.0 MHz, audio 6.8 MHz.

STS-84 PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFINGS

8 a.m. Phase One Overview (JSC) Frank Culbertson, Phase One Program Director Dr. John Charles, NASA-Mir Mission Scientist

9:30 a.m. Mission Overview (JSC) Phil Engelauf, STS-84 Lead Flight Director

11 a.m. NASA Television Video File (NASA HQ)

12 noon SPACEHAB Overview (JSC) Mike Bain, Shuttle-Mir Program Manager, SPACEHAB

1 p.m. STS-84 Crew News Conference (JSC) Charles J. Precourt (CDR) Eileen M. Collins, Pilot (PLT) Jean-Francois Clervoy, Mission Specialist 1 (MS 1) Carlos I. Noriega, Mission Specialist 2 (MS 2) Edward Tsang Lu, Mission Specialist 3 (MS 3) Elena V. Kondakova, Mission Specialist 4 (MS 4) C. Michael Foale, Mission Specialist 5 (MS 5-up)

(all times are CDT)

text-only version of this release