NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: June 25, 1999

Media Advisory m99-129

Summary:

-- News Release: X-34 Rocket Plane Takes to the Sky as Part of Safety
Check
-- News Release: Investigation Finds Design Errors Caused WIRE
Spacecraft Failure
-- Video File for June 25: From Mars With Love

******
X-34 ROCKET PLANE TAKES TO THE SKY AS PART OF SAFETY CHECK

Locked to the belly of its newly modified L-1011 carrier

aircraft, a test version of NASA's X-34 rocket plane is
scheduled to make its first flight next week. The prototype
of the robotic spacecraft will test new technologies and
methods of operations needed to develop low-cost reusable
space vehicles. The first flight will begin at approximately 11 a.m. EDT
on Tuesday, June 29, from NASA's Dryden Flight Research
Center, Edwards, CA. This captive-carry flight, in which the aircraft
and test vehicle remain combined, will check for potentially hazardous
conditions that may have resulted from modifications made to
the L-1011 to enable it to carry the X-34.

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Jim Cast, 202/358-1779;

Contact at NASA Dryden: Leslie A. Mathews, 661/258-3893;
Contact at NASA Marshall: Dominic Amatore, 256/544-0031;
Contact at Orbital Sciences Corp.: Barron Beneski, 703/406-5000.

*****
INVESTIGATION FINDS DESIGN ERRORS CAUSED WIRE SPACECRAFT FAILURE

NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) failed because of an

incorrectly designed electronics box that prematurely fired explosive
devices, causing early ejection of the instrument's telescope cover, a
NASA board has found. With the premature loss of the telescope's cover,
the frozen hydrogen used to cool the telescope's sensitive infrared
detectors was exposed to the Sun. As the telescope warmed, the hydrogen
converted into a gas and vented entirely into space within 48 hours of
launch. Without the frozen hydrogen, the instrument could not conduct
its scientific mission.

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Douglas Isbell, 202/358-1547;

Contact at NASA Goddard: Lynn Jenner, 301/286-8982.

The full text of the executive summary of the report is available

on the World Wide Web at:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/1999/wire_summary.pdf

Full text of the release:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1999/99-074.txt

If NASA issues any news releases later today, we will

e-mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html

*****
Video File for June 25, 1999

ITEM 1 NEW MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES: FROM MARS WITH LOVE
ITEM 2 STS-93 CREW ARRIVAL AT KENNEDY (TRT 04:42) (REPLAY)
ITEM 3 FUSE SPACECRAFT LAUNCH REPLAY

*****
ITEM 1 NEW MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES

ITEM 1A FROM MARS WITH LOVE

This valentine from Mars is a pit formed when a straight-walled
trough collapsed. It is known in geological terms as a graben. Graben
are formed along fault lines by expansion of the bedrock terrain. The
heart-shaped pit is about 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) at its widest. The
image was targeted by the camera team in order to examine the
relationship between a lava flow and the graben and pits that disrupted
and cut across the flow. The graben, pit and lava flow are located on
the east flank of the Alba Patera volcano in northern Tharsis.

ITEM 1B THARSIS VOLCANOES

The volcanoes of the Tharsis region are highlighted by this
color image mosaic obtained on a single Martian afternoon. Olympus Mons
dominates the upper left corner -- it is one of the largest known
volcanoes and is nearly 550 kilometers (340 miles) wide. The white or
bluish-white features are clouds. Clouds are common over the larger
Tharsis volcanoes in mid-afternoon. The four largest volcanoes are more
than 15 kilometers (9 miles) high. Pavonis Mons lies on the Martian
equator. North is up, and sunlight is illuminating the scene from the
left. The picture is a mosaic of red and blue filter images taken on
three consecutive orbits. The slightly blurred appearance of the left
side of Arsia Mons results from distortion toward the edges of the
images used to make the mosaic. Mosaics like this one are used to
monitor changes in Martian weather and to plan future observations.

ITEM 1C DUST DUNES

Mars is home to some very large, windblown dunes. The dunes shown
here rise to almost 100 meters (275 feet) at their crests. Unlike dunes
on Earth, the larger dunes of Mars are composed of dark, rather than
light grains. This is probably related to the sand's composition. The
dunes in this picture are located on the floor of an old, 72-kilometers-
(45-mile)-diameter crater located northeast of Syrtis Major. The sand is
being blown from the upper right toward the lower left. The surface that
the dunes have been travelling across is pitted and cratered. The dark
streaks on the dune surfaces are a puzzle and are likely the result of
passing dust devils or wind gusts that disturb the sand surface just
enough to leave a streak. The image shown here covers an area
approximately 2.6 kilometers (1.6 miles) wide and is illuminated from
the lower right.

ITEM 1D MONUMENT VALLEY

Like the world-famous Monument Valley located in the Navajo
Nation on the border of Arizona and Utah, this "Martian Monument Valley"
consists of a series of mesas and buttes that were formed by the erosion
of layered bedrock. The uneroded rock forms a flat upland at the top of
the image. The number of mesas and buttes decreases toward the bottom of
the image, but their presence indicates that the rock in which they
formed was once more extensive and covered the entire scene. Small dunes
form parallel ridges on the lowland between many of the mesas near the
top of the image. The dunes occur on the Elysium Plains, approximately
300 kilometers (185 miles) south of the Cerberus region in the Martian
eastern hemisphere. The image covers an area that is 3 kilometers (1.9
miles) wide and is illuminated from left.

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Doug Isbell, 202/358-1547;

Contact at Jet Propulsion Lab: Mary Hardin, 818/354-0344.

ITEM 2 STS-93 CREW ARRIVAL AT KENNEDY (TRT 04:42) (REPLAY)

ITEM 2A CREW ARRIVAL (TRT 02:34)

Footage shows the arrival of the STS-93 Crew members for the
Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test Kennedy Space Center beginning
June 21, 1999. The flight crew is comprised of Commander Eileen Collins,
Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission specialists Steve Hawley, Catherine Coleman
and French Astronaut Michel Tognini. A countdown test is held prior to
each Space Shuttle flight. The launch day dress rehearsal, scheduled for
Thursday, follows three days of emergency egress training exercises,
flights in the Shuttle Training Aircraft and an inspection of the
Chandra X-ray Observatory payload inside Shuttle Columbia's payload bay.

ITEM 2B STS-93 M-113 TANK TRAINING (TRT 02:08)

Footage shows the STS-93 crew engaged in orientation training in M-
113 armored vehicles on June 22, 1999. The M-113 armored vehicle is
used for crew emergency egress from the launch pad perimeter in the
event of an emergency.

Contact at Kennedy Space Center: Joel Wells, 407/867-2468.

*****
ITEM 3 FUSE SPACECRAFT LAUNCH REPLAY
Footage includes replay of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic
Explorer spacecraft (FUSE) launch and mission animation. The FUSE
mission seeks to answer long-standing questions about the origins of the
universe. FUSE will investigate the origin and evolution of the lightest
elements in the universe. FUSE will also examine the forces and
processes involved in the evolution of galaxies, stars and planetary
systems.

Contact at NASA Goddard: Donna Drelick, 301/286-7995;

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Doug Isbell, 202/358-1547.

******************************************************
The NASA Video File generally airs at noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9
p.m. and midnight Eastern Time, but may be pre-empted by mission
coverage or breaking news. NASA Television is available on GE-2,
transponder 9C at 85 degrees West longitude, with vertical polarization.
Frequency is on 3880.0 megahertz, with audio on 6.8 megahertz.

Refer general questions about the video file to NASA

Headquarters, Washington, DC: Ray Castillo, 202/358-4555, or
Pam Poe, 202/358-0373.

During Space Shuttle missions, the full NASA TV schedule will

continue to be posted at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html

For general information about NASA TV see:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/

*****
Contract Awards

Contract awards are posted to the NASA Acquisition

Information Service Web site:

http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html

*****
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*****

end of daily news summary