Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington, DC Nov. 1, 1999 (Phone: 202/358-1726) Eileen Hawley Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (Phone: 281/483-5111) NOTE TO EDITORS: N99-55 PREFLIGHT BRIEFINGS FOR HUBBLE SERVICING MISSION SET FOR NOV. 9 Background briefings on the upcoming Space Shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 9. The mission, designated STS-103, will mark the third visit of a Space Shuttle crew to Hubble and features four scheduled spacewalks by two teams of astronauts. Each spacewalk will last approximately six hours as the astronauts install new gyroscopes, upgraded sensors, computers and recorders. The teams also will install a new transmitter, add voltage/temperature improvement kits for the telescope's batteries, and begin repair of the insulation on the telescope's outer surface, which has deteriorated during nine years in orbit. The briefings will begin at 9 a.m. EST with an overview of the mission objectives and spacewalk tasks. That will be followed at 11 a.m. by a briefing on Hubble hardware and science originating from NASA Headquarters. Following the NASA Video File at noon, the STS-103 astronauts will hold their press conference at 2 p.m. All of the briefings will be carried live on NASA Television. NASA Television is available through the GE-2 satellite, transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio at 6.8 MHz. Following the mission briefings, round-robin interviews with the crewmembers will be held for reporters at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and for those reporters who make advance arrangements to participate by telephone. Media wishing to participate in the round-robin interviews must fax their request to the Johnson Newsroom by close of business on Friday, Nov. 5. The fax number is 281/483-2000. STS-103 PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFINGS Tuesday, Nov. 9, 1999 (All times shown are EST) 9 a.m. Mission Overview and Spacewalk Briefing Linda Ham, Lead Flight Director, Johnson Space Center Keith Johnson, Lead EVA Officer, Johnson Space Center 11 a.m. Hubble Space Telescope Payload and Science Briefing Dr. Edward Weiler; Associate Administrator for Space Science; NASA Headquarters; Washington, DC Dr. John Campbell; Hubble Project Manager; Goddard Space Flight Center; Greenbelt, MD Debra Henretty; Engineer; Guidance, Navigation and Control Center; Goddard Space Flight Center Dr. Anne Kinney; Director, Astronomical Search for Origins; NASA Headquarters Noon NASA TV Video File 2 p.m. STS-103 Crew Press Conference Curt Brown, Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot Steve Smith, Payload Commander, Mission Specialist (MS) 1 Jean-Francois Clervoy, MS2 John Grunsfeld, MS3 Mike Foale, MS4 Claude Nicollier, MS5 3 p.m. STS-103 Crew Round-Robin Interviews These interviews will not be carried on NASA TV. - end - * * * NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. NASA releases also are available via CompuServe using the command GO NASA. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, address an E-mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov, leave the subject blank, and type only "unsubscribe press-release" (no quotes) in the body of the message.