NEAR Descent to Eros:
Schedule of Events and Satellite, Live Web Information

NASA attempts something never before done Monday, Feb. 12, when, starting at 10:31 a.m. EST, mission controllers at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, MD, will initiate a series of engine burns over a 4-hour period designed to bring NASA's NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft down to the surface of asteroid Eros.

Due to the STS-98 mission of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, NASA Television will not be available to provide coverage of NEAR's descent and the post-mission briefing, now scheduled for Feb. 14.

These events will be broadcast live on a separate Ku Band satellite, Telstar K5, 97 degrees West Longitude, Transponder 12, Downlink Frequency 11936 MHz Horizontal Polarity, Audio 6.2 & 6.8.

NASA will also provide an Internet video stream of the activities originating from APL. Members of the media who wish to follow the NEAR encounter activities on the Internet can contact either the NASA HQ or APL Public Affairs offices for access instructions and passwords.

General public access will be available on a first-come, first-served basis on NASA's home page at http://www.nasa.gov and the NEAR page at http://near.jhuapl.edu/.

The satellite and web feed schedule is as follows (all times EST):

Monday, Feb. 12:

• 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. - Live shots from the NEAR Mission Operations enter (MOC) - APL broadcast on Telstar K5
• Noon - Breaking news to report results of scheduled 10:31 a.m. engine firing, followed by NEAR Video File - APL broadcast on Telstar K5
• 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. - Descent Activities from NEAR MOC. Broadcast live via Telstar K5 with simultaneous Web cast
• 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. - Live shots from the NEAR MOC broadcast on Telstar K5

Wednesday, Feb. 14:

• Noon - NEAR Video File - APL broadcast on Telstar K5
• 1 p.m. - NEAR Post-Landing Press Briefing in APL's Kossiakoff Center broadcast on Telstar K5 and live Web cast

Panelists for the post-mission briefing will be:

• Dr. Jay Bergstralh, Acting Director, Solar System Exploration, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
• Robert Farquhar, NEAR Mission Director, APL
• Bobby Williams, Navigation, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
• Joseph Veverka, Imaging Team Leader, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
• Thomas Coughlin, NEAR Project Manager, APL

To receive NASA's video stream you will need the latest version of RealPlayer installed on your computer and an active Internet connection. The latest version of the software is available at: http://www.real.com/R/RC.HP0207t2.buttons2.txt..R/www.real.com/player/index.html

Media interested in covering the descent activities from APL should contact Helen Worth or Mike Buckley of the APL Public Affairs Office, at (240) 228-5113 or (240) 228-7536. Registration is also available through the NEAR mission Web site at http://near.jhuapl.edu/media/current_press_events.html.