Carnegie Institution of Washington

Donald Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington July 13, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1727)

Michael Buckley
Johns Hopkins Univ. Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
(Phone: 240/228-7536)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N04-105

NASA TV <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html>

PRE-LAUNCH BRIEFING FOR NASA'S MESSENGER MISSION TO MERCURY

NASA's first mission to the planet Mercury in 30 years, scheduled for launch Aug. 2, will be the subject of a press briefing Thursday, July 15, at 1 p.m. EDT. The briefing will originate from the James Webb auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, and will be broadcast live on NASA TV <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html>.

MESSENGER is scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., at 2:16 a.m. EDT, Aug. 2, aboard a Delta II launch vehicle. MESSENGER will arrive to begin its yearlong orbit of Mercury in March 2011.

Panelists will discuss the mission's science goals and the seven-year cruise needed to place the spacecraft in orbit around Mercury:

-Orlando Figueroa, Director, Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Headquarters

-Dr. Sean C. Solomon, Principal Investigator, Carnegie Institution of Washington

-Dr. Robert W. Farquhar, mission manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md.

-James C. Leary, mission systems engineer, APL

NASA TV is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. Two-way question-and-answer capability is available from participating NASA centers. For listen-only service call: 321/867-1220/1240/1260.

Additional information about MESSENGER is available on the Web at:

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu

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