Date: Mon, 15 May 1995 18:25:32 -0400 From: NASANews@luna.osf.hq.nasa.gov (NASA HQ Public Affairs Office) Message-Id: <9505152225.AA19908@luna.osf.hq.nasa.gov> To: press-release-nasa@mercury.hq.nasa.gov Subject: New MCC Briefing Added to STS-70 Pre-Flight Schedule Sender: NASANews@hq.nasa.gov Precedence: bulk Mark Hess Headquarters, Washington, DC May 15, 1995 (Phone: 202/358-1778) Kari Fluegel Johnson Space Center, Houston (Phone: 713/483-5111) NOTE TO EDITORS: N95-29 NEW MCC BRIEFING ADDED TO STS-70 PRE-FLIGHT SCHEDULE A briefing introducing NASA's new Mission Control Center (MCC) will be conducted at 10 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 16 as part of the STS-70 Pre-flight Briefings at the Johnson Space Center. For the first time since NASA's original Mission Control Center was established in 1965, flight controllers will be working out of the new facility for portions of the STS-70 Space Shuttle mission. The new MCC, developed at a cost of about $250 million, eliminates the NASA-unique equipment and massive hardware orientation of the current Mission Control, replacing it with a modular, software-oriented design that uses standard, commercially available equipment. The new MCC's design offers an unprecedented flexibility in flight control operations, allowing the facility to be changed from controlling a Space Shuttle to controlling any other spacecraft with almost the simplicity of choosing a different function from a computer menu. The commercially available equipment and up-to-date technology used in the new MCC will greatly reduce maintenance costs for the facility as well. During STS-70, the ascent, Tracking and Data Relay Satellite deploy and entry operations will be conducted from the old Flight Control Room, but after the completion of the deploy, the flight control team will move to the new MCC for the remaining on-orbit operations. The pre-flight briefings, which also will include discussions of the mission objectives, will originate from Johnson. Two-way question and answer capability will be available from all participating NASA Centers. The updated briefing schedule is as follows: (all times are EDT) May 16, 1995 10 a.m. New Mission Control Center Overview John Muratore, Chief, Control Center Systems Division Linda Uljon, Acting Chief, Control Center Systems Division 2 p.m. STS-70 Crew News Conference Terence "Tom" Henricks, Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Don Thomas, Mission Specialist 1 Nancy Currie, Mission Specialist 2 Mary Ellen Weber, Mission Specialist 3 NASA Television will carry all briefings live on Spacenet 2, Transponder 5, Channel 9 at 69 degrees West longitude. The transponder frequency is 3880 MHz and the audio subcarrier is 6.8 MHz. The polarization is horizontal. - end - 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. Questions should be directed to (202) 358-4043.