For Release: March 26, 1996
Catherine E. Watson
(804) 864-6122
Release No. 96-022
NOTE TO EDITORS:
Spacewalking Astronauts to Install NASA Experiment on Mir March
27
Beginning at approximately 1:30 a.m. EST March 27, two
astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-76)
will attach the Mir Environmental Effects Payload
(MEEP) to the Russian space station Mir. MEEP, managed
by NASA's Langley Research Center, will study the frequency and
effects of space debris striking the Mir space station.
Atlantis astronauts Godwin and Clifford will work for more than
five hours to attach the four MEEP experiment containers to the Mir
shuttle docking module. Live TV coverage of the spacewalk will be
available on NASA TV, via the Spacenet-2 satellite system,
transponder 5, 69 degrees west longitude, frequency 3880.0 MHz,
audio 6.8 MHz.
MEEP will also expose selected and proposed international space
station materials to the effects of space and orbital debris.
Because the international space station will be placed in
approximately the same Earth orbit as Mir, flying MEEP aboard Mir
will give researchers an opportunity to test materials for the
international Space Station in a comparable orbital position. MEEP
will remain attached to Mir until late 1997, when the four
experiment containers will be retrieved by another space shuttle
crew (STS-86) and returned to Earth for study.
A MEEP fact sheet, color photos, and b-roll video are available,
as are interviews with the MEEP project manager. For more
information please contact the NASA Langley Research Center Office
of Public Affairs at (804) 864-6122 or view the MEEP home page on
the World Wide Web at:
http://spocls.larc.nasa.gov/meep/meep.html
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text-only version of this release | 
