NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: May 14, 1999

Media Advisory m99-097

Summary:

-- Note to Editors: Discovery Launch Postponed to Repair Fuel Tank Hail

Damage
-- Video File for May 14, 1999
-- Upcoming Live Interview Opportunity: Star Wars...It's Not Just
Science Fiction, May 18
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DISCOVERY LAUNCH POSTPONED TO REPAIR FUEL TANK HAIL

DAMAGE

Space Shuttle managers have postponed the launch of Discovery for

at least one week to permit technicians to repair foam insulation on the
external fuel tank that was damaged by a severe hailstorm last weekend.
Previously scheduled for May 20, Discovery's launch on Shuttle mission
STS-96 will be delayed for a minimum of at least a week to no earlier
than May 27.

Contact at Headquarters: Jennifer McCarter, 202/358-1639;

Contact at Johnson: James Hartsfield, 281/483-5111.

Full text of release:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/1999/n99-027.txt

If NASA issues any news releases later today, we will

e-mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html
*****

Video File for May 14, 1999

ITEM 1 SHUTTLE HAIL DAMAGE (TRT 02:40) (REPLAY)

ITEM 2 SYNTHETIC VISION (TRT 06:57) (REPLAY)
ITEM 3 HUBBLE FINDS LENSES IN SPACE (TRT 03:00 APPROX.) (REPLAY)

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ITEM 1 Shuttle Hail Damage (replay)
Space Shuttle Discovery sustained hail damage from a severe weekend
storm.

Contact at Headquarters: Jennifer McCarter: 202/358-1639;

Contact at Kennedy: Joel Wells, 407/867-2468.

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ITEM 2 Synthetic Vision (replay)
Item 2A Cockpit Technologies Animation
NASA is developing two innovative cockpit technologies -- Aviation
Weather Information to give pilots timely moving weather map displays
and Synthetic Vision to give pilots an electronic picture of terrain,
traffic and obstacles.

Item 2B Synthetic Vision Simulator

The deadliest aviation accidents happen in poor visibility. NASA is
working with industry teams to create Synthetic Vision for pilots. NASA
will use a simulator to develop concepts for Synthetic Vision and
to evaluate and assess them.

Item 2C Airplane b-roll

Footage shows airplanes taxiing on the runway, taking off
and landing when visibility is poor -- during inclement weather and at
night.

Item 2D Interview excerpts: Michael Lewis, NASA Aviation Safety

Program Director, Langley Research Center.

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Michael Braukus, 202/358-1979;

Contact at NASA Langley: Kathy Barnstorff, 757/864-9886.

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ITEM 3 Hubble Finds Lenses in Space (replay)

The NASA Hubble Space Telescope survey of the sky has uncovered exotic
patterns, rings, arcs and crosses that are optical mirages produced by a
gravitational lens, nature's equivalent to a giant magnifying glass in
space.

For more information, visit:

http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1999/

Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute: Cheryl Gundy, 410/338-

4707.
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UPCOMING LIVE INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY: STAR WARS...IT'S NOT
JUST SCIENCE
FICTION, May 18

TOPIC: The excitement around Star Wars is not limited to movie fans.
Warp drives and intergalactic travel are science fiction in the movies,
but they're coming closer to reality at the Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, AL. Right now, engineers and scientists at the Marshall
Center -- where the future is now -- are developing space transportation
systems that could take us to galaxies far, far away.

TALENT: Garry Lyles and George Schmidt, Advanced Space Transportation

managers

TIME: May 18, 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. EDT

To book an interview, contact Connie James, 256/544-2188 or pager

256/544-1183 (PIN 0224).

*****
The NASA Video File airs at noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9
p.m. and midnight Eastern Time. NASA Television is available
on GE-2, transponder 9C at 85 degrees West longitude, with
vertical polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0 megahertz, with
audio on 6.8 megahertz.

Refer general questions about the video file to NASA

Headquarters, Washington, DC: Ray Castillo, 202/358-4555, or
Pam Poe, 202/358-0373.

During Space Shuttle missions, the full NASA TV schedule will

continue to be posted at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html

For general information about NASA TV see:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/

*****
Contract Awards

Contract awards are posted to the NASA Acquisition

Information Service Web site:

http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html
*****
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*****

end of daily news summary