June 6, 2012 J.D. Harrington Headquarters, Washington 202-358-5241 j.d.harrington@xxxxxxxx Whitney Clavin Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-4673 whitney.clavin@xxxxxxxxxxxx Robert Sanders University of California, Berkeley 510-643-6998 rlsanders@xxxxxxxxxxxx MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-106 NASA TO HOST NEWS TELECONFERENCE ABOUT NUSTAR LAUNCH WASHINGTON -- NASA will host a news teleconference 3 p.m. EDT June 11 to discuss the upcoming launch of its Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) spacecraft which is scheduled for no earlier than 11:30 a.m. EDT June 13. The observatory, a black-hole hunter with sharp X-ray eyes, will be launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. NuSTAR is attached to an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket which is mounted on the bottom of an L-1011 Stargazer aircraft. The airplane will take off from Kwajalein Atoll and release the rocket, which will ignite its engines in the air. The Stargazer departed Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California June 5 and will land at Kwajalein June 6. Panelists include: -- Omar Baez, NASA launch director, Kennedy Space Center, Fla. -- Fiona Harrison, NuSTAR principal investigator, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. -- William Craig, NuSTAR instrument manager, University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) -- Grace Baird, NuSTAR bus chief engineer, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Va. The news teleconference will take place at the Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley. Local reporters wanting to attend must send an email to Robert Sanders at rlsanders@xxxxxxxxxxxx by 2 p.m. EDT June 11. For dial-in information, reporters must email their name, media affiliation and telephone number to J.D. Harrington at j.d.harrington@xxxxxxxx by 2 p.m. EDT June 11. Graphics presented during the teleconference will be online shortly before the start of the teleconference at: http://1.usa.gov/nustar Live audio of the teleconference will be available at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio On June 13, launch coverage and commentary will be broadcast online beginning 90 minutes before launch at: http://www.nasa.gov/nustar -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
