Hampton Roads news media will have an opportunity to question the manager of the NASA Space Shuttle Program when he visits NASA Langley Researcher Center Friday morning.

Wayne Hale led the massive effort to return the space shuttle to flight this summer and is presently planning for the shuttle's next flight targeted for no earlier than next spring. Hale will report on space shuttle upgrades, Langley's work in support of the shuttle Return to Flight effort, and the future of the shuttle program.

Media are invited to a brief media availability with Hale at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28. Media interested in attending should contact Keith Henry at 757-864-6120 or 757-344-7211 (mobile) no later than 9 a.m., Oct. 28, to arrange for entry onto the Center.

As shuttle program manager, Hale has overall responsibility for the program's safe conduct. Following the Shuttle Columbia accident, Hale joined the Shuttle Program Office as deputy manager and also was selected to chair the program's Mission Management Team. In that capacity, he was instrumental in restructuring the team, to include ensuring that all levels of expertise have input into problem solving.

Hale's visit is the second of two events at NASA Langley this week highlighting NASA's recent shuttle flight and the Space Shuttle Program. On Thursday, NASA Langley will welcome astronaut Charlie Camarda, a former NASA Langley researcher who served as a mission specialist on Shuttle Discovery for the Return to Flight mission between July 26 and Aug. 9. Call for details regarding media availability.

For more information about the Space Shuttle Program and shuttle missions, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

- end -

text-only version of this release