Jennifer McCarter

Headquarters, Washington, DC October 14, 1998

(Phone: 202/358-1639)

Lisa Malone/Bruce Buckingham

Kennedy Space Center, FL
(Phone: 407/867-2468)

Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

RELEASE: 98-189

OFFICIAL LAUNCH DATE SET FOR STS-95 MISSION

NASA program managers today set Oct. 29 as the official

launch date for the STS-95 mission aboard the Shuttle Discovery, a
scheduled nine-day flight in which the seven astronauts will
conduct more than eighty scientific experiments investigating
mysteries that span the realm from the inner universe of the human
body to studies of our own Sun. The mission marks the return of
John Glenn to space, 36 years after his history-making flight
aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962, as the first American to
orbit the Earth.

The Flight Readiness Review, held at NASA's Kennedy Space

Center, FL, yesterday, was the final major review by all Shuttle
project offices to evaluate the readiness of the flight crew and
vehicle, as well as the launch and mission control flight teams.

"This flight will demonstrate the flexibility and importance

of the Space Shuttle through the vast array of scientific
experiments and a challenging on-orbit crew timeline. Also, as we
observe NASA's 40th anniversary this month, we have the unique
opportunity to refly the first American to orbit the Earth. John
Glenn is certain to see, firsthand, the advances in human space
flight from the early beginnings of the Mercury program to the
construction of the International Space Station," said NASA's
Johnson Space Center Director, George Abbey.

Discovery is scheduled for launch on Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. EST

from Launch Pad 39B at the opening of a 2 1/2 hour launch window.
The STS-95 mission is scheduled to last eight days, 21 hours, and
50 minutes. An on-time launch would result in a landing by
Discovery at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Nov. 7, at
11:50 a.m. EST.

The STS-95 Mission Commander is Curt Brown. The pilot will

be Steven Lindsey. Steve Robinson, Scott Parazynski and European
Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Pedro Duque will serve as Mission
Specialists. Glenn and Chiaki Mukai from the Japanese Space
Agency (NASDA) will fly as Payload Specialists.

STS-95 will be the 25th flight of Discovery and the 92nd

mission in Shuttle program history.

For complete biographical information on the STS-95 crew and

other astronauts, see the NASA Internet astronaut biography home
page at URL:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/

For additional information on the STS-95 mission, visit the

Shuttle home page at http://www.shuttle.nasa.gov or the electronic
press kit at:

http://www.shuttlepresskit.com

-end-