NASA Reschedules News Conference On Stardust-NExT Comet Flyby

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Feb 15, 2011, 12:54 ET

PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has rescheduled the news conference about the Stardust-NExT comet flyby for 12:30 p.m. PST (3:30 p.m. EST) today. The briefing will release images and early data from the comet encounter and will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

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The participants are:

-Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Washington

-Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator, Cornell University

-Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

-Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, University of Washington, Seattle

-Pete Schultz, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, Brown University

The news conference was originally scheduled for 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST). The additional time will allow scientists to process and analyze data and images gathered when the spacecraft flew past comet Tempel 1, with closest approach at a distance of 112 miles. The mission team had expected the closest-approach images to be sent first. Instead, the images were downlinked in chronological order, starting with the most distant approach views.

The briefing also can be viewed on one of JPL's Ustream channels at:

http://www.ustream.tv/user/NASAJPL2

The first six, most distant approach images are available online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/stardust

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

For NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

SOURCE NASA