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SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION TO MAP EARTH THREE-DIMENSIONALLY

NEW ORLEANS, LA., January 28th, 2000 -- The next Space Shuttle mission – STS-99, featuring the orbiter Endeavour and an astronaut crew of six – is currently scheduled for launch at 11:47 a.m. Central Standard Time on Monday, January 31, with a launch window of two hours.

The Super Lightweight Tank built at Michoud Operations, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in New Orleans will power the Space Shuttle into orbit.

The goal of the 11-day Space Shuttle Radar Topography mission is to provide the most complete and detailed three-dimensional mapping of the Earth yet attempted.

Many remote areas of the world such as deserts, rain forests and mountain ranges have in the past proved difficult to map. The innovative radar system on this mission will be able to map images with an accuracy of better than plus or minus 100 feet.

Radar topography will help scientists better understand how the Earth’s surface is changing. Through the radar images, researchers can study flooding, erosion, earthquakes, weather forecasts and climate change.

Opportunities to view the Shuttle in orbit can be found on the Web at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/index.html

NASA Television (NTV) will be available on GE-2, Transponder 9C at 85 degrees west longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 Mhz, and audio of 6.8 Mhz. The launch will also be broadcast live on WLAE-TV, Channel 32.

Harry Wadsworth, 504-257-0094 or harry.wadsworth@maf.nasa.gov