SPACE STATION MEDIA WORKSHOP SCHEDULED FOR MAY 12-14 AT JSC



April 8, 1998



Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1979)



James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

<h4>Release: N98-26</h4> <h3>Space Station Media Workshop Scheduled 
for May 12-14 at JSC</h3> 

Members of the news media are invited to attend press briefings and 
hands-on demonstrations at training and simulation facilities May 
12-14 at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX. The activities 
will provide information about the International Space Station and 
its five-year assembly in orbit that will begin with launches this 
year.



The workshop will follow a day of standard preflight media briefings 
-- on the last Shuttle-Mir docking mission, STS-91 -- that are 
currently planned for May 11 at Johnson. On May 12, a series of 
briefings will describe the International Space Station, its current 
status and its assembly in orbit. On May 13 and 14, media 
representatives can visit a variety of facilities at Johnson for 
demonstrations and activities that will provide familiarity with the 
station and assembly operations.



Media planning to attend the workshop must fax a written request for 
press accreditation to the Johnson Space Center newsroom at (281) 
483-2000 before April 30. Because of limited capacity in some 
facilities, attendance at the demonstrations may be limited to one 
reporter and/or camera crew per news media organization. The 
briefings will be carried live on NASA Television, available on GE-2, 
transponder 9C at 85 degrees West longitude, with vertical 
polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0 megahertz, with audio on 6.8 
megahertz.



Planned briefings for May 12 include: (all times CDT) 8 a.m. 
International Space Station: Overview and Status 9:30 a.m. 
International Space Station: Research and Exploration Noon 
International Space Station: Assembly in Orbit 1:30 p.m. Flight 
Control of the International Space Station



News media at Johnson also will receive details and logistical 
information concerning coverage of the launch of the first 
International Space Station component, the Control Module or 
Functional Cargo Block (FGB), from Russia later this year.



Media demonstrations on May 13-14 will include an opportunity for 
hands-on activities and briefings by experts in station engineering, 
training and operations. Several sessions of each demonstration will 
be held each day, and media will be able to attend in small groups to 
allow individual attention and participation. The planned 
demonstrations include:



*Space Station Training Facility -- viewing and demonstrations in the 
U.S. Segment and Russian Segment International Space Station trainers 
under development at Johnson, including a new Soyuz emergency egress 
trainer.



*Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory -- Adjacent to Johnson's new 6.4-million 
gallon spacewalk training pool, high-fidelity mockups of the first 
two components, the Control Module and the Node 1 connecting module, 
will be displayed, along with demonstrations of spacewalking tools, 
suits and equipment developed and flight-tested by NASA in 
preparation for station assembly.



*Shuttle Cockpit Rendezvous Simulators -- Demonstrations of the 
rendezvous and capture activities that will be required to join the 
Control Module and Node 1 during Shuttle mission STS-88 will be 
viewed in a domed Space Shuttle aft cockpit simulator, as well as on 
a desktop rendezvous simulation.



*Virtual Reality Training and Station Mockups -- Demonstrations of 
Johnson's Virtual Reality Laboratory used by astronauts to train for 
upcoming assembly spacewalks will be performed. Media also will have 
an opportunity to tour nearby trainers for the Shuttle and station 
robotic arms; the International Space Station full-scale mockups and 
trainers; and the X-38 crew return vehicle development facility.



In addition, throughout the three-day workshop, Johnson personnel with 
expertise on all aspects of the International Space Station program 
and assembly operations will accommodate as many individual interview 
requests as possible. Facilities with International Space Station 
mockups and backgrounds will be available for such interviews.

	
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