Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington                      July 13, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1727)

Michael Buckley
Johns Hopkins Univ. Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
(Phone: 240/228-7536)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N04-105

PRE-LAUNCH BRIEFING FOR NASA'S MESSENGER MISSION TO MERCURY

     NASA's first mission to the planet Mercury in 30 years, 
scheduled for launch Aug. 2, will be the subject of a press 
briefing Thursday, July 15, at 1 p.m. EDT. The briefing will 
originate from the James Webb auditorium at NASA 
Headquarters in Washington, and will be broadcast live on 
NASA TV.

MESSENGER is scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air 
Force Station, Fla., at 2:16 a.m. EDT, Aug. 2, aboard a 
Delta II launch vehicle. MESSENGER will arrive to begin its 
yearlong orbit of Mercury in March 2011. 

Panelists will discuss the mission's science goals and the 
seven-year cruise needed to place the spacecraft in orbit 
around Mercury:

-Orlando Figueroa, Director, Solar System Exploration 
Division, NASA Headquarters
-Dr. Sean C. Solomon, Principal Investigator, Carnegie 
Institution of Washington
-Dr. Robert W. Farquhar, mission manager, Johns Hopkins 
University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md.
-James C. Leary, mission systems engineer, APL

NASA TV is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, 
located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 
3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural 
at 6.80 MHz. Two-way question-and-answer capability is 
available from participating NASA centers. For listen-only 
service call: 321/867-1220/1240/1260.