NASA Sets Briefings to Preview Next Space Shuttle Mission

HOUSTON - NASA will discuss the next space shuttle mission during a daylong series of media briefings from the Johnson Space Center on Friday, Sept. 14. Space shuttle Discovery’s 13-day mission, designated STS-120, is targeted for launch on Oct. 23. The mission will continue construction of the International Space Station.

The briefing schedule is (all times CDT):

8:00 a.m. -- Space Shuttle and Space Station Program overview
9:30 a.m. -- STS-120 mission overview
11:00 a.m. -- NASA TV Video File
11:30 a.m. -- STS-120 spacewalk overview
1:00 p.m. -- STS-120 crew news conference (photo opportunity follows)
2:00 p.m. -- Round-robin crew interviews

All briefings except the round-robin crew interviews will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the Web at:


http://www.nasa.gov/ntv


Discovery’s crew members are Commander Pam Melroy, Pilot George Zamka and mission specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, Douglas Wheelock, Dan Tani and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency. Tani will remain aboard the station for several months and return with the STS-122 crew. Current station Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson will return to Earth aboard Discovery.

Discovery’s crew will add a module that will serve as a port for installing additional international laboratories. The Harmony module will be the first expansion of the living and working space on the complex since the Russian Pirs airlock was installed in 2001. The mission also will move the first set of solar arrays installed on the station to a permanent location on the complex and redeploy them.

Media planning to attend the Sept. 14 briefings must contact the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 by 5 p.m. on Sept. 12. Briefers also will take questions from participating NASA sites. Non-U.S. media planning to attend the briefings, regardless of citizenship, must contact the Johnson newsroom by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30, to obtain credentials. Media planning to participate, either in person or by phone, for the round-robin interviews with the crew members must contact the Johnson newsroom by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11.

For the latest information about the STS-120 mission and its crew, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle