NASA Stardust-NExT mission's close encounter with comet Tempel 1 14FEB2011 10FEB2011

NASA HOSTING EVENTS FOR VALENTINE'S NIGHT COMET ENCOUNTER
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host several live media activities for 
the Stardust-NExT mission's close encounter with comet Tempel 1. The 
closest approach is expected at approximately 8:37 p.m. PST, with 
confirmation received on Earth at about 8:56 p.m. PST on Monday, Feb. 
14. 

Live coverage of the Tempel 1 encounter will begin at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 
14 on NASA Television and the agency's website. The coverage will 
include live commentary from mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and video from Lockheed Martin 
Space System's mission support area in Denver. 

A news briefing is planned for 10 a.m. on Feb. 15. Scheduled 
participants are: 
-Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator, Science Mission 
Directorate 
-Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator, Cornell University 

-Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager, JPL 
-Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, University of 
Washington, Seattle 

To cover the Tempel 1 flyby at JPL, journalists must contact the JPL 
Media Relations Office at 818-354-5011. Valid media credentials are 
required. Non-U.S. citizens must bring passports. 

Starting Feb. 14 at 8 p.m., news media representatives can watch live 
coverage of the control room via a feed to JPL's von Karman 
Auditorium. The auditorium will remain open through the evening for 
media. Reporters who will not travel to JPL may call the Media 
Relations Office to make arrangements to ask questions during the 
Feb. 15 briefing. 

Mission coverage schedule (all times PST and subject to change): 

8:30 to 10 p.m., Feb. 14: Live NASA TV commentary begins from mission 
control; includes coverage of closest approach and the 
re-establishment of contact with the spacecraft following the 
encounter. 

Midnight to 1:30 a.m., Feb. 15: NASA TV commentary will chronicle the 
arrival and processing of the first five of 72 close-approach images 
expected to be down linked after the encounter. The images are 
expected to include a close-up view of the comet's surface. 

10 a.m., Feb. 15: News briefing 

Starting on Feb. 9, NASA TV will air Stardust-NExT mission animation 
and b-roll during its Video File segments. For NASA TV streaming 
video, scheduling and downlink information, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv 

Live commentary and the news conference also will be carried live on 
one of JPL's Ustream channels. Viewers during events can engage in a 
real-time chat and submit questions to the Stardust-NExT team at: 

http://www.ustream.tv/user/NASAJPL2 

The public can watch a real-time animation of the Stardust-NExT comet 
flyby using NASA's new "Eyes on the Solar System" Web tool. JPL 
created this 3-D environment, which allows people to explore the 
solar system directly from their computers. It is available at: 

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes

This flyby of Tempel 1 will give scientists an opportunity to look for 
changes on the comet's surface since it was visited by NASA's Deep 
Impact spacecraft in July 2005. Since then, Tempel 1 has completed 
one orbit of the sun, and scientists are looking forward to 
monitoring any differences in the comet. 

During its 12 years in space, Stardust became the first spacecraft to 
collect samples of a comet (Wild 2) in 2004, which were sent in 2006 
to Earth for study. The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science 
Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in 
Denver built the spacecraft and manages day-to-day mission 
operations. 

A press kit and other detailed information about Stardust-NExT is 
available at: 

http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.gov