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10-20-2007, 12:42 PM
Shuttle Launches at IMAX Theater on 10/23
Submitted By: Cathy Harper - PR Director NM Museum of Space History
<center><table align=center cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><caption align=bottom>
<font size=2 face="Arial Narrow" color=black>Discovery (OV-103), the third of NASA's fleet of reusable, winged spaceships, arrived at Kennedy Space Center in November 1983.</font></caption><tr><td><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/STS_Discovery.jpg border=1 hspace=5 alt="Discovery (OV-103), the third of NASA's fleet of reusable, winged spaceships, arrived at Kennedy Space Center in November 1983."></td></tr></table></center>
Alamogordo, New Mexico: Space Shuttle Discovery (STS 120) is scheduled to launch on Tuesday Oct. 23, from Kennedy Space Center at 9:38 am MST. For the first time, the launch will be broadcast live in the Clyde W. Tombaugh IMAX Theater thanks to a courtesy NASA feed from a local business, Mountain Communications. “As the Museum and theater move forward, this is one more way for us to provide a better educational opportunity to the school systems and to the public. The IMAX Theater will offer an impressive venue for viewing the shuttle launch, especially with our state of the art sound,” said Division Director Randall Hayes, adding, “We very much appreciate the assistance from Mountain Communications and our staff member Paul Emel who helped coordinate this effort.” A group of museum staff, volunteers, International Space Hall of Fame Foundation Board members and others will be on hand for the first launch broadcast. “We will be making this venue available to schools and other groups,” commented theater manager Jack Moore, “so keep your eyes to the skies and remember, the only thing better than being at the Cape for a launch is being in our IMAX Theater!”<br><br>STS-120 will be the twenty-third mission to the International Space Station and will deliver the U.S. Node 2 Harmony module, christened after a school contest, expanding the space station's capability for future international laboratories, specifically European and Japanese laboratory modules. Retired Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy will command the STS-120 mission to take the Node 2 connecting module to the station. Melroy, a veteran shuttle pilot, is the second woman to command a shuttle. Marine Corps Col. George D. Zamka will serve as pilot. The flight's mission specialists will be Scott E. Parazynski, Army Col. Douglas H. Wheelock, Stephanie D. Wilson and Paolo A. Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut from Italy. Zamka, Wheelock and Nespoli will be making their first spaceflight. Expedition 15/16 Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson will return to Earth from the space station aboard shuttle mission STS-120. That flight will carry his replacement, Daniel Tani, to the station. Tani will return on shuttle mission STS-122.<br><br>Discovery (OV-103), the third of NASA's fleet of reusable, winged spaceships, arrived at Kennedy Space Center in November 1983. It was launched on its first mission, flight 41-D, on August 30, 1984. It carried aloft three communications satellites for deployment by its astronaut crew. Other Discovery milestones include the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope on mission STS-31 in April 1990, the launching of the Ulysses spacecraft to explore the sun's polar regions on mission STS-41 in October of that year and the deployment of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) in September 1991.<br><br>Discovery is named for two famous sailing ships; one sailed by Henry Hudson in 1610-11 to search for a northwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the other by James Cook on a voyage during which he discovered the Hawaiian Islands.<br><br>In the event that the Shuttle launch is cancelled, the broadcast will be rescheduled.<br><br>Groups interested in attending future broadcasts should contact the museum’s Education Department. According to theater manager Jack Moore, “We plan to carry the remaining shuttle launches live, along with any other exciting activities that NASA may have in store.”<br><br>The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a division of the NM Department of Cultural Affairs. Admission to the museum is $3.00 for adults, $2.75 for seniors and military personnel, $2.50 for children four to twelve years old, and under four free. For more information, call 505-437-2840 or toll free 1-877-333-6589 or visit the website at: www.nmspacemuseum.org (http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/).
Submitted By: Cathy Harper - PR Director NM Museum of Space History
<center><table align=center cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><caption align=bottom>
<font size=2 face="Arial Narrow" color=black>Discovery (OV-103), the third of NASA's fleet of reusable, winged spaceships, arrived at Kennedy Space Center in November 1983.</font></caption><tr><td><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/STS_Discovery.jpg border=1 hspace=5 alt="Discovery (OV-103), the third of NASA's fleet of reusable, winged spaceships, arrived at Kennedy Space Center in November 1983."></td></tr></table></center>
Alamogordo, New Mexico: Space Shuttle Discovery (STS 120) is scheduled to launch on Tuesday Oct. 23, from Kennedy Space Center at 9:38 am MST. For the first time, the launch will be broadcast live in the Clyde W. Tombaugh IMAX Theater thanks to a courtesy NASA feed from a local business, Mountain Communications. “As the Museum and theater move forward, this is one more way for us to provide a better educational opportunity to the school systems and to the public. The IMAX Theater will offer an impressive venue for viewing the shuttle launch, especially with our state of the art sound,” said Division Director Randall Hayes, adding, “We very much appreciate the assistance from Mountain Communications and our staff member Paul Emel who helped coordinate this effort.” A group of museum staff, volunteers, International Space Hall of Fame Foundation Board members and others will be on hand for the first launch broadcast. “We will be making this venue available to schools and other groups,” commented theater manager Jack Moore, “so keep your eyes to the skies and remember, the only thing better than being at the Cape for a launch is being in our IMAX Theater!”<br><br>STS-120 will be the twenty-third mission to the International Space Station and will deliver the U.S. Node 2 Harmony module, christened after a school contest, expanding the space station's capability for future international laboratories, specifically European and Japanese laboratory modules. Retired Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy will command the STS-120 mission to take the Node 2 connecting module to the station. Melroy, a veteran shuttle pilot, is the second woman to command a shuttle. Marine Corps Col. George D. Zamka will serve as pilot. The flight's mission specialists will be Scott E. Parazynski, Army Col. Douglas H. Wheelock, Stephanie D. Wilson and Paolo A. Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut from Italy. Zamka, Wheelock and Nespoli will be making their first spaceflight. Expedition 15/16 Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson will return to Earth from the space station aboard shuttle mission STS-120. That flight will carry his replacement, Daniel Tani, to the station. Tani will return on shuttle mission STS-122.<br><br>Discovery (OV-103), the third of NASA's fleet of reusable, winged spaceships, arrived at Kennedy Space Center in November 1983. It was launched on its first mission, flight 41-D, on August 30, 1984. It carried aloft three communications satellites for deployment by its astronaut crew. Other Discovery milestones include the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope on mission STS-31 in April 1990, the launching of the Ulysses spacecraft to explore the sun's polar regions on mission STS-41 in October of that year and the deployment of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) in September 1991.<br><br>Discovery is named for two famous sailing ships; one sailed by Henry Hudson in 1610-11 to search for a northwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the other by James Cook on a voyage during which he discovered the Hawaiian Islands.<br><br>In the event that the Shuttle launch is cancelled, the broadcast will be rescheduled.<br><br>Groups interested in attending future broadcasts should contact the museum’s Education Department. According to theater manager Jack Moore, “We plan to carry the remaining shuttle launches live, along with any other exciting activities that NASA may have in store.”<br><br>The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a division of the NM Department of Cultural Affairs. Admission to the museum is $3.00 for adults, $2.75 for seniors and military personnel, $2.50 for children four to twelve years old, and under four free. For more information, call 505-437-2840 or toll free 1-877-333-6589 or visit the website at: www.nmspacemuseum.org (http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/).