Paula Cleggett-Haleim
Headquarters, Washington,D.C.                    February 2, 1990
(Phone:  202/453-1547)

Carter Dove
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone:  301/286-5566)

RELEASE:  90-19

GAMMA-RAY OBSERVATORY SET FOR SHIPMENT TO FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE

     The Gamma-Ray Observatory (GRO), one of NASA'S Four Great 
Observatories, will be shipped Feb. 6 by builder TRW from its 
Redondo Beach, Calif., facility to Cape Canaveral Air Force 
Station (CCAFS), Fla., in preparation for Space Shuttle launch 
from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., in November 1990.

     Following the Shuttle launch, GRO will be deployed into a 
near-circular orbit 279 miles from Earth, where it will gather 
gamma-ray data generated at the beginning of time -- perhaps 15 
billion years ago -- in a comprehensive scientific effort to 
learn more about the origin and fate of the universe.

     After shipment by a flatbed trailer-equipped truck from 
Redondo Beach to Los Angeles International Airport, the NASA 
satellite will be airlifted to CCAFS for further testing and 
eventual integration at KSC with Space Shuttle Atlantis.

     The GRO will be the heaviest spacecraft ever deployed from 
the Space Shuttle, weighing nearly 17 tons.  It is among the 
first spacecraft designed exclusively by computer techniques.  
Its four scientific instruments are the largest, most advanced 
and most sensitive of their type ever flown in space.  They are 
designed to study gamma rays emitted by some of the most exotic 
and explosive objects in the universe.  After an initial 2-year 
mission, the GRO may continue to function for 8 years or longer. 

     Completing the complement of NASA's Four Great Observatories 
are:  the Hubble Space Telescope, scheduled for Space Shuttle 
Discovery launch from KSC April 18; the Advanced X-Ray 
Astrophysics Facility; and the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, 
the latter two planned for launch in the last half of the decade.

                            - end -


TO:  MDS/PRA Group
     1615 L Street, N.W. - Suite 100
     Washington, D.C. 20036

DATE & TIME:  FEBRUARY 2, 1990

ORDERED BY:  Edward Campion
NASA Headquarters/LMD
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20546             PHONE:  202/453-8400

PROJECT TITLE:  Release No:  90-19

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