Barbara Selby

Headquarters, Washington, D.C. April 23, 1990

(Phone: 202/453-2927)

Rick Mould
University of Alabama-Huntsville
(Phone: 205/895-6414)

Walter Pennino
Space Services, Inc., Houston
(Phone: 703/281-2495)

RELEASE: 90-58

LAUNCH DATE SET FOR CONSORT 3

The launch of Consort 3, a commercial suborbital rocket

carrying 12 microgravity experiments, has been set for May 17 at
10:40 a.m. EDT, by the University of Alabama-Huntsville's (UAH)
Consortium for Materials Development in Space (CMDS), a NASA
Center for the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS).

Consort 3 will be launched from the Naval Ordnance Missile

Test Station facilities at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile
Range (WSMR), N.M., by Space Services, Inc., Houston, using its
Starfire rocket. The rocket willcarry the payload to an altitude
of 200 miles and will provide the experiments
with 7 to 8 minutes of microgravity time.

The rocket and launch services are funded by a grant from

NASA's Officeof Commercial Programs, Wash., D.C. Commercial
participants provided most of the fundingfor the payload.

The Consort 3 mission will carry experiments from three

other NASA commercial development centers. They include the
Center for Advanced Materials, Battelle Columbus Laboratories,
Columbus, Ohio; the Center for Cell Research, Penn State
University, State College; and the Center for Bioserve
SpaceTechnologies, University of Colorado, Boulder.

- more -
-2-

The UAH CMDS and the Center for Advanced Materials will
perform materials science experiments, while the Penn State and
Colorado centers will conduct biotechnical experiments, each
using the effects of microgravity intheir investigations.

This is the third commercial launch for the UAH CMDS and
Space Services. Consort 1, carrying six microgravity
experiments, was successfully launched on March 29, 1989.

Consort 2, launched Nov. 15, 1989, was terminated 30

seconds into the flight by the WSMR range flight safety
personnel. However, the undamaged payload was recovered by
parachute. The Consort 3 experiment package is essentially the
same payload as the aborted Consort 2 mission.

An incident investigation board, chaired by Space Services,

Inc.,determined that the Consort 2 flight anomaly was caused by a
mechanical failure in the MIDAS gyro platform that provides
attitude reference input into the S19 boost guidance system. The
loss of the platform caused the vehicle to cone, which lead to
high structural loads and premature separation of the payload
from the booster.

"Management and independent experts have carefully analyzed

the known and other potential failure modes," said Donald (Deke)
Slayton, President of Space Services. "All possible corrective
actions have been taken."

- end -

NOTE TO EDITORS:

While this event is not open to the general public, news

media representatives may attend. Requests for accreditation to
attend the launch of Consort 3 should be submitted directly by
May 10, 1990, to:

Debbie Bingham, PAO

Building 122
White Sands Missile Range, N.M. 88002-5057

Phone: 505/678-1134

Radio and television reporters planning live coverage

directly from the range are required to submit their transmission
frequencies to the WSMR Department of Defense Area Frequency
Coordinator (505/678-5417) for approval to transmit. Requests
must be received no later than May 7, 1990.

TO: MDS/PRA Group

1615 L Street, N.W. - Suite 100
Washington, D.C. 20036

DATE & TIME: April 23, 1990 12:30pm

ORDERED BY: Edward Campion

NASA Headquarters/LMD
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20546 PHONE: 202/453-8400

PROJECT TITLE: Release No: 90-58

PRINT ORDER: 2245

PRINTING: Camera Ready, lst pg on NASA logo, other pages plain

ENCLOSE & MAIL: Release of 2 pages

MAIL DATE: April 24, 1990

EXTRA COPIES: Deliver specified quanities to locations below:

50 copies 275 copies 75 copies

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