NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: May 25, 1999

Media Advisory m99-104

Summary:

-- News Release: Hubble Completes Eight-Year Effort to Measure Expanding

Universe
-- Video File for May 25, 1999
-- Upcoming STS-96 Live Events
-- Upcoming Live Interview Opportunity: STS-96, May 26
-- Upcoming Live Interview Opportunity: Hurricane CAT Scan, May 28

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HUBBLE COMPLETES EIGHT-YEAR EFFORT TO MEASURE EXPANDING
UNIVERSE

The Hubble Space Telescope Key Project Team today announced

that it has completed efforts to measure precise distances to far-
flung galaxies, an essential ingredient needed to determine the
age, size and fate of the universe. "Before Hubble, astronomers could
not decide if the universe was 10 billion or 20 billion years old,"
according to the team leader. "After all these years, we are finally
entering an era of precision cosmology. Now we can more reliably
address the broader picture of the universe's origin, evolution and
destiny." The team's precise measurements are the key to learning about
the universe's rate of expansion, called Hubble's constant.

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Donald Savage, 202/358-1547;

Contact at NASA Goddard: Nancy Neal, 301/286-0039;
Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute: Ray Villard, 410/338-4514.

Full text of the release:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1999/99-065.txt

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Video File for May 25, 1999

Note to Producers and Assignment Editors: Due to the STS-96 briefing

schedule, the 3 p.m. Video File will run for one hour.

ITEM 1 AGE OF THE UNIVERSE (TRT 04:11)

ITEM 2 STS-96 CREW TRAINING (TRT 05:00) (REPLAY)
ITEM 3 STS-96 MISSION ANIMATIONS (TRT 03:30) (REPLAY)
ITEM 4 STS-96 CREW INTERVIEWS (TRT 41:17) (REPLAY)

Note: A TV schedule combining mission events and other NASA television

items is now available at
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html

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ITEM 1 AGE OF THE UNIVERSE
Having completed eight years of painstaking measurements, the
Hubble Space Telescope Key Project Team today announced its
findings regarding how fast the universe is expanding. The rate of
expansion, a value called the Hubble Constant, is essential to
determining the age and size of the universe.

ITEM 1A NASA HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE COLOR IMAGE OF GALAXY

4603
Galaxy 4603 is the most distant of galaxies in which a pulsating
Cepheid variable star has been found. Observations of distant Cepheids
help astronomers to measure precisely the universe's expansion rate, a
value used to determine the age and size of the universe.
Credit: Jeffrey Newman (UC Berkeley)/NASA

ITEM 1B GALAXY 4603 WITH CEPHEIDS IDENTIFIED

Hubble Space Telescope's view of a spiral galaxy used for distance
measurements. Camera pulls out to show a view of a single, Cepheid
variable star embedded within the galaxy. The single pixel, shown with a
pulsating effect, is one of the stars used as a distance indicator.
Credit: Jeffrey Newman (UC Berkeley)/NASA

ITEM 1C ANIMATION OF CEPHEID STARS IN GALAXIES SHOWING

DISTANCES
This diagrammatic sequence starts on a single spiral galaxy with
pulsating Cepheid variable star, pulls out to local galaxies with
pulsating stars, then shows more distant galaxies which are used as
secondary distance indicators. The Hubble Space Telescope Key Project
Team used pulsating Cepheids to obtain distance measurements of more
than 65 million light years and from that determined the universe's
expansion rate. Credit: Greg Bacon, Space Telescope Science
Institute

ITEM 1D MOVIE OF GROUND-BASED SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION DATA

A time lapse series of images captures the supernova explosion of a
star in a distant galaxy. This class of supernovae are used to
estimate distances to far away galaxies because their apparent
brightness can be tied to other supernovae in the same class.
Visualization by Peter Challis, Harvard University

ITEM 1E ANIMATION OF BIG BANG

The expanding universe is shown according to the Big Bang theory.
Credit: Dana Berry, Tufts University, 3D animation/Bryan Preston, Space
Telescope Science Institute, 2D effect

ITEM 1F HUBBLE DEEP FIELD NORTH IMAGE

The Hubble Deep Field North image shows galaxies in one of the
deepest images ever taken. These are among the most distant galaxies
ever observed. Cosmologists can infer their age from more precise
measurements of galaxies that are closer to Earth. Credit: B. Williams,
the HDF Team Space Telescope Science Institute and NASA

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Don Savage, 202/358-1547;

Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute: Ray Villard, 410/338-4514.

*****
ITEM 2 STS-96 CREW TRAINING (REPLAY)
Footage includes suit up, electrical power system training (virtual
reality), orbiter space vision training, bailout training and the crew
photo session.

Contact at NASA Johnson: Eileen Hawley, 281/483-5111.

*****
ITEM 3 STS-96 MISSION ANIMATIONS (REPLAY)
STS-96, a 10-day flight, will take four men, three women and more
than 5,000 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station. While
docked with the station, the astronauts will conduct a spacewalk to
attach a crane to the station for future assembly missions. Animation
illustrates the mission.

Contact at NASA Johnson: Eileen Hawley, 281/483-5111.

*****
ITEM 4 STS-96 CREW INTERVIEWS (REPLAY)
ITEM 4A Commander Kent Rominger
ITEM 4B Pilot Rick Husband
ITEM 4C Mission Specialist Tamara Jernigan
ITEM 4D Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa
ITEM 4E Mission Specialist Daniel Barry
ITEM 4F Mission Specialist Julie Payette, Canadian Space Agency
ITEM 4G Mission Specialist Valery Tokarev, Russian Space Agency
Contact at NASA Johnson: Eileen Hawley, 281/483-5111.

*****
UPCOMING STS-96 LIVE EVENTS:

TUESDAY, MAY 25: 12:30 p.m. EDT, INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

STATUS
BRIEFING
4 p.m. EDT, STS-96 PRELAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26: 9 a.m. EDT, L-1 COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING
10 a.m. EDT, STARSHINE BRIEFING
THURSDAY, MAY 27: 1:30 a.m. EDT, LAUNCH COVERAGE BEGINS
6:48 a.m. EDT, LAUNCH
7:45 a.m. EDT, POST LAUNCH PRESS CONFERENCE

*****
UPCOMING LIVE INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY: STS-96, MAY 26

TOPIC: Space Shuttle Discovery will lift off Thursday, May 27, at 6:48
a.m. EDT, taking an international crew of seven astronauts to the new
International Space Station, as the first visitors since its launch and
assembly last year. As part of the mission, astronauts Tamara Jernigan
and Daniel Barry will perform a spacewalk to attach a crane to the
exterior of the station.

TALENT: Astronauts Linda Godwin and Leroy Chiao.

Godwin, from Jackson, MO, performed a spacewalk outside Russia's
Mir space station in March 1996, on her third space flight. Chiao, of
Danville, CA, performed two spacewalks in January 1996 to demonstrate
tools and techniques for assembling the International Space Station.

TIME: May 26, 1999 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. EDT (Godwin)
7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. EDT (Chiao)

To book an interview window, call Pam Poe, 407/867-7820, pager 1-800-

759-8888 pin #1711738, or Ray Castillo, 202/358-4555.

NOTE: The interviews will air on Galaxy 3R (95 degrees West),

Transponder 12 (full), downlink frequency 11930 MHz.

*****
UPCOMING LIVE INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY: HURRICANE CAT SCAN,
MAY 28

TOPIC: Weather forecasters are predicting that the 1999 Hurricane

Season will be another busy one, with four intense hurricanes and a
chance the U.S. will be hit by a major storm. Researchers at NASA will
be using a high-tech weather satellite to learn what¹s happening inside
this season¹s powerful storms. The world's first and only spaceborne
rain radar on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM, pronounced
³Trim²) satellite allows scientists to create spectacular 3-D "CAT
scans" of precipitation rates and the height of the rain column inside
powerful hurricanes.

TALENT: NASA Research Meteorologist Dr. Marshall Shepherd

TIME: Friday, May 28, from 6:10 a.m. 10:15 a.m. EDT

To book an interview, call Deanna Corridon, 301/286-0041, or Wade

Sisler, 301/286-6256, 888-474-0914 pager.

The interviews will be broadcast on KU-Band -- Telstar 5, transponder 11

at 97 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, frequency - 11929
MHz, and audio of 6.8 MHz.

*****
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