PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFINGS FOR UPCOMING MICROGRAVITY SCIENCE LABORATORY FLIGHT SET FOR MARCH 18



March 12, 1997



Debra Rahn / Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1778)



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

<h4>Release: N97-15</h4> <h4>NOTE TO EDITORS:</h4> <h3>Pre-Flight 
Briefings for Upcoming Microgravity Science Laboratory Flight Set for 
March 18</h3> 

A series of briefings to preview the activities and objectives of 
NASA's upcoming Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission 
will be held on Tuesday, March 18 at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), 
Houston, TX, and the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, 
AL.



During the mission, designated STS-83, Space Shuttle Columbia's 
seven-person crew will perform a variety of experiments designed to 
study the effects of weightlessness on various materials. The 
pressurized Spacelab module, which serves as an orbiting laboratory, 
also will serve as a testbed for the International Space Station by 
having the MSL-1 experiments and activities verify some of the 
hardware, facilities and procedures that will be used on the 
international complex.



The STS-83 pre-flight briefings will begin at JSC at 8:30 a.m. CST 
with a mission overview briefing by Lead Flight Director Rob Kelso. 
At 9:30 a.m. CST the briefings will switch to MSFC for a presentation 
on the science planned during the MSL-1 flight. NASA's daily Video 
File will air at its regular time of 11 a.m. CST. At 11:30 a.m. CST 
the briefings move back to JSC for a presentation on the Cryogenic 
Flexible Diode (CRYOFD) heat pipe experiment. The final briefing of 
the day will take place at 1 p.m. CST with the crew news conference.



All of the briefings will be carried on NASA Television with two-way 
question and answer capability from participating NASA centers. 
Special Note about NASA Television: As of March 15, NASA Television 
will be broadcast at a new satellite location. The new satellite is 
GE-2, Transponder 9C at 85 degrees West longitude, frequency 3880.0 
MHz, audio 6.8 MHz.



STS-83 PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFINGS (All times are CST)



Time Subject Site



8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Mission Overview JSC Rob Kelso - Lead Flight 
Director



9:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. MSL-1 Science Briefing MSFC Teresa B. Vanhooser - 
MSL-1 Mission Manager Dr. Michael B. Robinson - MSL-1 Mission 
Scientist Dr. Forman Williams - Univ. of CA, San Diego Dr. Ivan Egry 
- German Aerospace Research Establishment



11 a.m. NASA Video File HQ



11:30 a.m. - 12 noon CRYOFD/ Hitchhiker briefing JSC Marko Stoyanof, 
GSFC



1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. STS-83 Crew Conference JSC Jim Halsell - Commander 
(CDR) Susan Still - Pilot (PLT) Janice Voss - MS1/ Payload Commander 
(MS-1/PC) Mike Gernhardt - Mission Specialist-2 (MS-2) Don Thomas - 
Mission Specialist-3 (MS-3) Roger Crouch - Payload Specialist-1 
(PS-1) Greg Linteris - Payload Specialist-2 (PS-2)

	
-end-