Ray Castillo
Headquarters, Washington, DC                February 26, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-4555)

Jeff Carr
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone:  713/483-2680)

RELEASE:  96-39

NASA TO FORM INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANEL

     NASA is forming an independent panel to review the loss
of the Tethered Satellite, Wil Trafton, Acting Associate
Administrator for the Office of Space Flight, announced
today.  The team will be chaired by Kenneth Szalai, Director
of the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA.  A
preliminary report with recommendations is due to Trafton
within 75 days.

     "Given the public investment in the tethered satellite,
it is important that we find out what went wrong," said
Trafton.  "To do any less would be a disservice to the
American and Italian people."

      The independent review team will be chartered under
NASA's Space Flight Operations Contingency Plan.  This is
standard practice with in-flight anomalies of this magnitude.

                    - end -

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