Note to Editors/News Directors:
FUSE SCHEDULED FOR LAUNCH ON DELTA ROCKET JUNE 23

The launch of NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spacecraft aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket is scheduled for Wednesday, June 23, 1999. The launch window extends from 11:39 a.m. - 12:57 p.m. EDT. Liftoff will occur from Pad A at Launch Complex 17 on Cape Canaveral Air Station.

NASA's newest space telescope, FUSE is designed to scour the cosmos for the fossil record of the origins of the universe. Scientists will use FUSE to study the earliest relics of the Big Bang—hydrogen and deuterium—to unlock the secrets of how the primordial chemical elements of which all the stars, planets and life evolved, were created and distributed since the birth of the Universe.

The FUSE spacecraft has completed final checkout at Hangar AE and was mated to the Boeing Delta II rocket at the launch pad today. The Delta fairing is to be installed around the spacecraft on June 19.

A prelaunch news conference is scheduled for Tuesday, June 22 at 2 p.m. EDT in the KSC News Center auditorium. Participating in the briefing will be:

• Dr. Harley Thronson, Acting Director, NASA Origins Program NASA Headquarters

• Charles Dovale, NASA Launch Manager
  Kennedy Space Center

• Joy Bryant, Delta II Flight Director
  The Boeing Company

• Dennis McCarthy, FUSE Project Manager
  Johns Hopkins University

• Joel Tumbiolo, Launch Weather Officer
  Department of the Air Force

No post-launch news conference will be held.

Those media without permanent accreditation who wish to cover the launch of FUSE, including the prelaunch news conference on L-1 day, should send a letter of request to the NASA-KSC News Center on news organization letterhead. It should include name, birth date and Social Security number or passport number. Letters should be faxed to 407/867-2692 or addressed to:

FUSE Launch Accreditation
NASA AB-F1
Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899

On Tuesday, June 22, mission badges may be picked up at the news media Pass & Identification Building located at Gate 2 on State Road 3 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. On launch day, June 23, FUSE mission badges will be available outside the Gate 1 Pass & Identification building on Cape Canaveral Air Station located on SR 401 prior to departure for Press Site 1. A Delta/FUSE mission badge is required for all media covering the launch from Press Site 1.

For further information on FUSE launch accreditation, contact Christy Moore at the NASA News Center at 407/867-2468.

On Tuesday, June 22 at 11 a.m., a NASA van will depart from the NASA-KSC News Center for Launch Complex 17 for media photographers who wish to establish remote cameras at Pad 17-A.

On Wednesday, June 23, media covering the launch should meet in the parking lot of the Gate 1 Pass & Identification Building on Cape Canaveral Air Station located on SR 401. The convoy departure for Press Site 1 will be at 10:30 a.m. After launch, media may leave unescorted via Gate 1 only.

The NASA-KSC News Center will be open on launch day from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

NASA Television will carry the prelaunch news conference starting at 2 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 22. On launch day, countdown coverage will begin at 10 a.m. EDT and conclude after spacecraft separation from the Delta rocket occurs approximately 73 minutes later.

NASA Television is available on GE-2, transponder 9C located at 85 degrees West longitude. Audio only of FUSE events will also be available on the "V" circuits which may be dialed directly at 407/867-1220, 1240, 1260, 7135, 4003, 4920.

A launch Webcast will also be available on the NASA-KSC Home Page.

The NASA-KSC codaphone will carry FUSE prelaunch status reports beginning at L-2 days, on Monday, June 21, and may be dialed at 407/867-2525.

For automatic e-mail subscriptions to this daily Shuttle status report or KSC-originated press releases, send an Internet electronic mail message to domo@news.ksc.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) type the words "subscribe shuttle-status", or "subscribe ksc-press-release" (do not use quotation marks). The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription.