PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

       The nation's premier center for space exploration, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, invites the public to visit the Lab during two open house weekends, June 6-7 and June 13-14, 1987, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

       All of JPL's major research areas, experiment labs, spacecraft clean rooms and testing areas, including the unique space simulators, will be open to visitors free of charge.

       JPL is located at 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, near the Oak Grove Drive/Berkshire exit of the 210 (Foothill) Freeway.

       JPL staff members will be on hand to demonstrate and explain the function and operation of various facilities, including the Multi-mission Image Processing Lab, where photos taken by unmanned spacecraft are processed and analyzed.

       Visitors are also welcome to tour the Space Flight Operations Facility spacecraft control room, where engineers and technicians guide NASA and other space probes across the solar system.

       Visitors may tour JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility and see close-up the Galileo spacecraft, scheduled for launch to Jupiter in 1989.

       Also on exhibit will be prototype for possible mission to Mars -- large balloon, inflated by solar heating

       that could someday carry instruments all over the red planet. JPL's Robotics Laboratory will demonstrate another prototype, robotic rover vehicle that could traverse Mars and pick up soil and rock samples for analysis.

       Walking tours and bus tours hosted by JPL guides will be available during open house hours on both weekends.

       Children's activities will include performances by JPL volunteer clowns, mimes and musicians. Children may

       watch themselves fly through space in special television exhibit, or have their pictures taken by spacecraft camera. Visitors are also welcome to walk through large van where students learn about math, science and computers.

       Food and beverages will be sold at various locations around the Lab, and space exploration souvenirs and T-shirts will be sold by JPL's Employee Recreation Club.

       Visitors are welcome to bring their cameras.

       JPL, government-owned facility, is division of the California Institute of Technology operated for NASA.

       For more information, call (818) 354-8594.

##### 5/21/87 MBM
#1146