July 13, 2004

Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1727)

Michael Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
(Phone: 240/228-7536)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N04-105

PRE-LAUNCH BRIEFING FOR NASA'S MESSENGER MISSION TO MERCURY

NASA's first mission to the planet Mercury in 30 years, scheduled for 
launch Aug. 2, will be the subject of a press briefing Thursday, July 
15, at 1 p.m. EDT. The briefing will originate from the James Webb 
auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, and will be broadcast 
live on NASA TV. 

MESSENGER is scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force 
Station, Fla., at 2:16 a.m. EDT, Aug. 2, aboard a Delta II launch 
vehicle. MESSENGER will arrive to begin its yearlong orbit of Mercury 
in March 2011. 

Panelists will discuss the mission's science goals and the seven-year 
cruise needed to place the spacecraft in orbit around Mercury:

--Orlando Figueroa, Director, Solar System Exploration Division, NASA 
Headquarters
--Dr. Sean C. Solomon, Principal Investigator, Carnegie Institution of 
Washington
--Dr. Robert W. Farquhar, mission manager, Johns Hopkins University 
Applied Physics 
Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md.
--James C. Leary, mission systems engineer, APL

NASA TV is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 
degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is 
vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. Two-way 
question-and-answer capability is available from participating NASA 
centers. For listen-only service call: 321/867-1220/1240/1260. 

Additional information about MESSENGER is available on the Web at: 

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu

	
-end-