ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 1998) — NASA program managers today set Oct. 29 as the official launch date for the STS-95 mission aboard the Shuttle Discovery, a scheduled nine-day flight in which the seven astronauts will conduct more than eighty scientific experiments investigating mysteries that span the realm from the inner universe of the human body to studies of our own Sun. The mission marks the return of John Glenn to space, 36 years after his history-making flight aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962, as the first American to orbit the Earth.

The Flight Readiness Review, held at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL, yesterday, was the final major review by all Shuttle project offices to evaluate the readiness of the flight crew and vehicle, as well as the launch and mission control flight teams.

"This flight will demonstrate the flexibility and importance of the Space Shuttle through the vast array of scientific experiments and a challenging on-orbit crew timeline. Also, as we observe NASA's 40th anniversary this month, we have the unique opportunity to refly the first American to orbit the Earth. John Glenn is certain to see, firsthand, the advances in human space flight from the early beginnings of the Mercury program to the construction of the International Space Station," said NASA's Johnson Space Center Director, George Abbey.

Discovery is scheduled for launch on Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. EST from Launch Pad 39B at the opening of a 2 1/2 hour launch window. The STS-95 mission is scheduled to last eight days, 21 hours, and 50 minutes. An on-time launch would result in a landing by Discovery at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 11:50 a.m. EST.

The STS-95 Mission Commander is Curt Brown. The pilot will be Steven Lindsey. Steve Robinson, Scott Parazynski and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Pedro Duque will serve as Mission Specialists. Glenn and Chiaki Mukai from the Japanese Space Agency (NASDA) will fly as Payload Specialists.

STS-95 will be the 25th flight of Discovery and the 92nd mission in Shuttle program history.

For complete biographical information on the STS-95 crew and other astronauts, see the NASA Internet astronaut biography home page at URL:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/

For additional information on the STS-95 mission, visit the Shuttle home page at http://www.shuttle.nasa.gov or the electronic press kit at:

http://www.shuttlepresskit.com

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