NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NOTE TO EDITORS : n04-049 NASA Announces Gravity Probe B Mission Press Briefing NASA experts will discuss the Gravity Probe B (GP-B) launch, spacecraft, and mission objectives at 1 p.m. EST, Friday, April 2, in the Webb Auditorium, NASA Headquarters, 300 E. Street SW, Washington.

The briefing will cover the origins, experimental methods, technology, mission operations, and science of GP-B. The mission will test two important predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. The 18-month mission is scheduled for launch Saturday, April 17, 2004, at 1:09 p.m. EST, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on board a Boeing Delta II launch vehicle.

Briefing participants:

• Anne Kinney, Director, Astronomy/Physics Division, NASA Headquarters


• Rex Geveden, Program Manager, GP-B, and Deputy Director, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Ala.


• Francis Everitt, Principal Investigator, GP-B, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.


• Brad Parkinson, Co-Principal Investigator, GP-B, Stanford University


• Kip Thorne, Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.

NASA TV will carry the briefing live with two-way question-and-answer capability for reporters at participating NASA centers. 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. Reporters can listen to the briefing by calling: 321/861-1200/1220/1240/1260. For more information about GP-B on the Internet, visit:

http://einstein.stanford.edu
http://www.gravityprobeb.com

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