Mark Hess

Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

April 24, 1991

(Phone: 202/453-4164)

Janet Dean
Rockwell International, Downey, Calif.
(Phone: 213/922-5227)

RELEASE: 91-62

NEW U.S. SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR TO ROLLOUT

The United States' new Space Shuttle orbiter, the Endeavour,

will rollout tomorrow at a ceremony in Palmdale, Calif., where
the orbiter was assembled by Rockwell International Corporation's
Space System Division (SSD).

A crowd to include several thousand Rockwell employees and

their families, government leaders and top Rockwell and NASA
officials is expected as the Endeavour makes its public debut.
Endeavour is the fifth operational orbiter Rockwell has built for
the U.S. Space Shuttle program.

NASA Administrator Richard H. Truly calls Endeavour NASA's

finest Space Shuttle yet and praised the efforts of tens of
thousands of people on the NASA/industry team across the nation
who contributed to the new orbiter's construction.

Truly stated, "On behalf of NASA and the nation, I am

extremely proud to be taking delivery of the Space Shuttle
orbiter Endeavour, the latest in a line of magnificent flying
machines. Painstakingly built by some of the finest and most
dedicated members of the government/industry work force in
America and equipped with extremely capable avionics and
mechanical systems, Endeavour will join our fleet of remarkable
space ships -- Columbia, Discovery and Atlantis -- in carrying
out the world's grandest adventure, the exploration of this vast
new ocean we call space."

Members of the crew of Endeavour's first flight will be on

hand to receive the ceremonial "keys" to Endeavour from
Rockwell.

Dr. Robert Duce, Dean of the University of Rhode Island's

Graduate School of Oceanography and Vice Provost for Marine
Affairs, will present NASA with
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Endeavour's first "payload" -- a sternpost remnant recovered from

the orbiter's namesake, the first sailing ship commanded by
British explorer Captain James Cook in 1768-1771. On the trip,
Cook observed and recorded the transit of the planet Venus. The
artifact will be carried aboard Endeavour on her maiden voyage.

The name Endeavour resulted from a nationwide orbiter-naming

competition supported by educational projects created by student
teams in elementary and secondary schools. President Bush chose
the name, which was proposed by both a fifth grade class in
Mississippi and a team of Georgian students in grades 8-12.

Endeavour is scheduled to be mated to NASA's new Shuttle

Carrier Aircraft at the Rockwell Palmdale facility early next
week and flown to Ellington Field, near NASA's Johnson Space
Center, Houston, for an overnight stay. Endeavour is scheduled
to arrive at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on May 3.

A total of $1.8 billion was spent on Endeavour:

approximately $1.6 billion on the orbiter vehicle and orbiter
support items such as extravehicular mobility units, television
cameras, upgrades to the Remote Manipulator System,
government-furnished equipment such as recorders and support for
safety and quality inspections; and approximately another $0.2
billion on four Space Shuttle main engines.

SSD manages the Endeavour construction program under the

direction of the Johnson Space Center. Fabrication of
Endeavour's forward and aft fuselages, forward reaction control
system, crew compartment and secondary structures was completed
at SSD's headquarters facility in Downey, Calif. Final assembly,
test and checkout were performed at the SSD Palmdale facility.
In addition, more than 250 major subcontractors and approximately
3,450 associated suppliers nationwide performed work on
Endeavour's components and support services, accounting for
nearly 50 percent of the total work on the program.

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