MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact: Diane Ainsworth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 17, 1999

QUIKSCAT PRELAUNCH BRIEFING RESCHEDULED; LAUNCH SET FOR JUNE 19

       NASA's Quick Scatterometer ocean-viewing satellite is poised for launch atop at Titan II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA on Saturday, June 19, at 7:15 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

       A pre-launch news conference has been rescheduled for 12 noon PDT Friday, June 18, and will be carried live on NASA Television. Participants in the briefing will be:
      

• Lt. Col. Joe Hogler, Titan II launch director, 30th Space Wing, Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
• Ray Lugo, NASA mission director, Kennedy Space Center, FL
• James Graf, Quikscat project manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
• Capt. Eric Barella, launch weather officer, 30th Weather Squadron, Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA

       NASA Television is carried on the GE-2 satellite, transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees west longitude, frequency 3880.0 megahertz, vertical polarization, audio monaural at 6.8 megahertz. A complete schedule of NASA Television programming is available via the Internet at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv . In addition, an audio status report on launch preparations is available by phone at (805) 734-2693.

       The QuikScat mission is part of NASA's Earth Sciences Enterprise, Washington, DC, a long-term research program designed to study Earth's land, oceans, atmosphere, ice and life as a total integrated system. More information on the mission is available on the Internet at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/quikscat . JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.

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