Donald Savage                     September 1, 1998
Headquarters, Washington, DC,
(Phone:  202/358-1727)

Bill Steigerwald
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone:  301/286-5017)

Franco Bonacina
European Space Agency Headquarters, Paris, France
(Phone:  33-1-5369-7713)

NOTE TO EDITORS:  N98-55

PRESS BRIEFING SET FOR SEPT. 3 ON SOHO INVESTIGATION 
BOARD REPORT AND SPACECRAFT RECOVERY OPERATIONS

      NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will hold a press 
conference September 3 to provide the latest information on the 
recovery of the agencies' Solar and Heliospheric Observatory 
(SOHO). Panel members also will discuss the final report of the 
board investigating the mishap that led to loss of communications 
with SOHO on June 24.  

       The press briefing will begin at 10 a.m. EDT  and will 
consist of two panels: one at ESA Headquarters in Paris and the 
other at the NASA Headquarters auditorium, 300 E St. SW, 
Washington, DC.  An audio link will allow questions and answers 
between Paris, NASA Headquarters and participating NASA centers.  
Listen-only audio will be available for media representatives by 
calling 407/867-1220.

     The panelists in Paris will be Dr. Roger Bonnet, ESA's 
Director of Science, and Professor Massimo Trella, ESA Inspector 
General and co-chairman of the ESA/NASA investigation board.

       The panelists at NASA Headquarters will be Dr. Michael 
Greenfield, Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of 
Safety and Mission Assurance and investigation board co-chairman; 
Dr. Joe Gurman, U.S. Project Scientist for SOHO, Goddard Space 
Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD; Francis Vandenbussche, ESA head of 
the SOHO recovery team at Goddard; and Dr. George Withbroe, 
Science Director, Sun-Earth Connection Theme, NASA Headquarters.

                              -end-