July 20, 2001

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1726)

Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

Release: N01-44

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Media Briefing to Preview Crew Exchange to Orbiting Space Station

The next space shuttle mission -- to feature the second rotation of astronauts and cosmonauts and the third flight of an Italian-built module delivering materials to the International Space Station -- will be the subject of briefings on Thursday, July 26, from NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston.

Designated STS-105, the mission on Space Shuttle Discovery, scheduled for launch no earlier than Aug. 9, will involve three crews. They are the four-member crew of Discovery, the three members of the Expedition Three crew to be launched to the space station, and the three members of the Expedition Two crew returning to Earth aboard the shuttle.

The crew exchange is the second for the permanently inhabited outpost, and the logistical module, Leonardo, is making its second flight carrying additional scientific racks, equipment and supplies. An identical module named Raffaello has flown once.

The briefings will begin with an overview of the space station program at 9 a.m. EDT, concluding with a joint STS-105/Expedition Three crew news conference beginning at 3 p.m. EDT.

Round-robin interviews with the STS-105 and Expedition Three crewmembers will follow the joint crew conference, for reporters in attendance at Johnson, and by phone for those who make advance arrangements. The round-robin interviews will not be televised, and space may be limited. Reporters planning to attend the briefings and participate in the round-robin interviews must contact the Johnson newsroom at 281/483-5111 by 5 p.m. Central time Tuesday, July 24.

NASA Television is available on GE-2, Transponder 9C, at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio of 6.8 MHz.

STS-105/EXPEDITION THREE PREFLIGHT BRIEFINGS JULY 26, 2001 (all times are CDT)

8 a.m. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS) OVERVIEW Tommy Holloway, ISS Program Manager

9 a.m. STS-105 MISSION OVERVIEW Paul Dye, STS-105 Lead Flight Director Mark Ferrring, STS-105 ISS Lead Flight Director Sharon Castle, STS-105 Launch Package Manager

10 a.m. EXPEDITION THREE MISSION OVERVIEW Missy Gard, Expedition Three Increment Manager John Uri, Lead Increment Scientist Raymond Echols, Expedition Three Lead Payload Operations Director, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL

11 a.m. NASA TELEVISION VIDEO FILE (from NASA Headquarters)

Noon STS-105 SPACEWALK OVERVIEW Scott Bleisath, STS-105 Lead EVA Officer

1 p.m. EXPEDITION THREE INCREMENT CREW NEWS CONFERENCE Frank Culbertson, Expedition Three Commander Vladimir Dezhurov, Expedition Three Pilot Mikhail Tyurin, Expedition Three Flight Engineer

2 p.m. STS-105/EXPEDITION THREE MISSION CREW NEWS CONFERENCE Scott Horowitz, Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Mission Specialist 1 (MS 1) Dan Barry Mission Specialist 2 (MS 2) Pat Forrester Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson Expedition Three Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov Expedition Three Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin

3 p.m. ROUND-ROBIN INTERVIEWS (NOT SEEN ON NASA TV)

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