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NASA Managers Set July 20 As Launch Date for Chandra TelescopeDwayne BrownHeadquarters, Washington, DC (Phone: 202/358-1726) Lisa Malone Kennedy Space Center, FL (Phone: 407/867-2468) RELEASE: 99-78 July 9, 1999 NASA managers set Tuesday, July 20, 1999, as the official launch date for NASA's second Space Shuttle Mission of the year that will mark the launch of the first female Shuttle Commander and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Columbia is scheduled to liftoff from Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center on July 20 at the opening of a 46-minute launch window at 12:36 a.m. EDT. Columbia's planned five-day mission is scheduled to end with a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center just after 11:30 p.m. EDT on July 24. Following its deployment from the Shuttle, Chandra will join the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory as the next in NASA's series of "Great Observatories." Chandra will spend at least five years in a highly elliptical orbit which will carry it one-third of the way to the moon to observe invisible and often violent realms of the cosmos containing some of the most intriguing mysteries in astronomy ranging from comets in our solar system to quasars at the edge of the universe. Columbia's 26th flight is led by Air Force Col. Eileen Collins, who will command a Space Shuttle mission following two previous flights as a pilot. The STS-93 Pilot is Navy Captain Jeff Ashby who will be making his first flight into space. The three mission specialists for the flight are: Air Force Lt. Col. Catherine "Cady" Coleman, who will be making her second flight into space; Steven A. Hawley, Ph.D, making his fifth flight; and French Air Force Col. Michel Tognini of the French Space Agency (CNES), who is making his first Space Shuttle flight and second trip into space after spending two weeks on the Mir Space Station as a visiting cosmonaut in 1992. NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. NASA releases also are available via CompuServe using the command GO NASA. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, address an E-mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov, leave the subject blank, and type only "unsubscribe press-release" (no quotes) in the body of the message. NASA TV on the web [ Press Index ] [ Press Releases ] |
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Revised: August 29, 2006
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