July 27, 1999, 6:30 p.m. CDT

Ed Campion
Johnson Space Center, TX
(281) 483-5111

Release: J99-28

Vice-President Gore to Welcome Home Sts-93 Crew

Assuming Space Shuttle Columbia makes an on-time landing at 10:20 p.m. CDT this evening at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Vice President Al Gore will join JSC Center Director George Abbey along with NASA employees, family and friends in welcoming home the five-member STS-93 crew on Wednesday morning.

The welcome home ceremony will take place at Ellington Field’s Hangar 276 at about 10:15 a.m. Wednesday. The event is open to the general public. News media representatives and others planning to attend are encouraged to arrive early.

The prime objective of the STS-93 mission was the deployment of NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the world's most powerful X-Ray telescope. With a combination of sensitive instruments and highly X-Ray reflective mirrors, the observatory will allow scientists to study the origin, structure and evolution of our universe in greater detail than ever before. Chandra is the third in NASA's series of "Great Observatories," joining the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory in Earth orbit.

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