Don Savage 								Jan. 26, 1996
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
202/358-1547

George Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
407/867-2468

Jim Sahli
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301/286-0697

Luther Young
Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Md.
301/953-6268


NOTE TO EDITORS: N96-004H

LAUNCH OF NEAR ON SCHEDULE, POLAR LAUNCH RETARGETED;
POLAR SCIENCE BRIEFING RESCHEDULED

     With all prelaunch preparations proceeding smoothly, managers have 
decided that the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission will be 
NASA s next expendable vehicle launch.  Liftoff is scheduled on Feb. 16 from 
Pad B at Launch Complex 17. Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla.  The launch window 
extends from 3:53:07 p.m. to 3:54:07 p.m. EST, a duration of one minute.

     Launch of NASA s Polar spacecraft, to occur from NASA's Space Launch 
Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), Calif. is planned for Feb. 22.  
The launch window extends from 3:22 a.m. to 3:47 a.m. PST, a duration of twenty 
five minutes.  Activities to prepare for the Polar launch have also been going 
well and the spacecraft was erected atop the McDonnell Douglas Delta II 
rocket on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

	The Polar Science Briefing has been rescheduled for Friday, Feb. 9, at 2 p.m. 
EST, at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Md.  Visitor Center on Soil 
Conservation Rd. Participants will be: Dr. Mario Acuna, ISTP/GGS Project Scientist, GSFC; 
Dr. Robert Hoffman, Polar Project Scientist, GSFC; Dr. Robert Carovillano, GGS Program 
Scientist, NASA HQ; Dr.  Mary Hudson, Dartmouth College, N.H.; Dr. David Chenette, 
Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory, Calif.; and Joseph Dezio, Project Manager, 
Global Geospace Science Project.

    The NEAR Science briefing will be held as previous scheduled on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. 
in the NASA Headquarters auditorium, 300 E St., SW, Washington, D.C. (West Lobby).  
Participants will be: Andrew Cheng, NEAR Project Scientist, Johns Hopkins University 
Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL); Robert W. Farquhar, NEAR Mission Manager, 
JHU/APL; Joseph Ververka, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y; Jacob I. Trombka, NASA/GSFC; 
and Maria T. Zuber, MIT Cambridge, Mass. and NASA/GSFC.

	Both briefings will be carried live on NASA Television via Spacenet 2, Transponder 5, 
Channel 9, at 69 degrees West longitude.  The frequency is al 3880.0 megahertz, audio at 6.8 
megahertz.  There will be a two-way question and answer capability for reporters covering the 
briefing from participating NASA Centers.

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