The Space Shuttle mission to deliver a 14-ton truss segment to the
International Space Station will be the subject of a series of preflight
briefings from NASAs Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston beginning at 9
a.m. EDT, on Friday, Sept. 6.

The STS-112 mission aboard Shuttle Atlantis is targeted for launch no earlier
than Oct. 2 to bring the Starboard One (S1) Truss to the space station, where
the truss will be mated with another truss element delivered in April. In
all, almost one dozen such trusses will be assembled to form a backbone for
the space complex, which will span the length of a football field.

Three spacewalks will be conducted by shuttle crewmembers Dave Wolf and Piers
Sellers to help assemble the new truss. Simultaneous operations with both the
orbiter’s robotic arm and the stations Canadarm2 will be highlighted during
the three spacewalks. Shuttle veteran Jeff Ashby commands Atlantis’ crew. It
will be the 15th assembly flight to the space research platform.

The briefings will begin with a current overview of the ISS program at 9 a.m.
A mission overview briefing involving the two lead flight directors follows
at 10 a.m. After the NASA Television Video File at noon, a briefing on the S1
Truss will take place at 12:30 p.m.

A briefing on the three spacewalks to be conducted on the STS-112 mission is
planned for 1:30 p.m. At 3 p.m., the six shuttle crewmembers will hold a news
conference to discuss their space station flight.

Round-robin interviews with the shuttle crewmembers will follow at 4 p.m. for
reporters in attendance at JSC, or for those who make telephone arrangements.
All briefings will be broadcast on NASA TV; however the round-robin
interviews will not be televised. Reporters must contact the JSC newsroom at
281/483-5111 by close of business on Wednesday, Sept. 4, to arrange
participation in the round robins.

NASA Television is available on GE-2, Transponder 9C at 85 degrees West
longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio of
6.8 MHz.

The briefing schedule for Sept. 6 is as follows:

STS-112 PREFLIGHT BRIEFINGS
September 6, 2002
(All times EDT)

9 a.m. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION OVERVIEW
Bill Gerstenmaier, International Space Station Program
Manager

10 a.m. STS-112 MISSION OVERVIEW
Phil Engelauf, STS-112 Lead Shuttle Flight Director
Andy Algate, STS-112 ISS Lead ISS Flight Director

Noon NASA TELEVISION VIDEO FILE (from NASA HQ)

12:30 p.m. STARBOARD 1 TRUSS BRIEFING
Ron Torcivia, STS-112 Launch Package Manager

1:30 p.m. STS-112 EVA OVERVIEW
Oscar Koehler, STS-112 Lead EVA Officer

3 p.m. STS-112 CREW NEWS CONFERENCE
Jeff Ashby, Commander
Pam Melroy, Pilot
Dave Wolf, Mission Specialist 1 (MS 1)
Sandy Magnus, Mission Specialist 2 (MS 2)
Piers Sellers, Mission Specialist 3 (MS 3)
Fyodor Yurchikhin, Mission Specialist 4 (MS 4)

4 p.m. ROUND-ROBIN INTERVIEWS
(NOT SEEN ON NASA TV)

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