Robert Mirelson Headquarters, Washington Feb. 1, 2003 1:15 p.m. EST RELEASE: 03-031 NASA PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCED A press conference by Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore and Chief Flight Director Milt Heflin will take place from NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, beginning at 3 p.m. EST today. The briefing will be carried on NASA TV with two-way question and answer capability from other agency centers. A Space Shuttle contingency was declared earlier this morning in Mission Control when communication was lost with the Space Shuttle Columbia during its return to Earth following a 16-day mission. Communication and tracking of the shuttle was lost at 9 a.m. at an altitude of about 203,000 feet above north central Texas while traveling approximately 12,500 miles per hour (Mach 18). No communication and tracking information was received in Mission Control after that time. Flight controllers in Mission Control immediately began the process of securing all information, notes and data pertinent to today's reentry and landing. NASA TV is on AMC-2, Transponder 9C, vertical polarization at 85 degrees West longitude, 3880 MHz, with audio at 6.8 MHz. More information will be released as it becomes available. NASA information is available on the Internet at: www.nasa.gov -end- ------------------------------------------------------------- For automatic email subscriptions to this KSC originated press releases, send an Internet electronic mail message to mailto:ksc-news_release-subscribe@kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov. With no subject or message. The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription. To remove your name from the list at any time, send an email addressed to mailto:ksc-news_release-unsubscribe@kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov . With no subject or message. or you can (un)subscribe on the World Wide Web at: http://kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov/ Status reports and other NASA publications are available on the World Wide Web at: http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/kscpao.htm .
