NEAR encounter

Monday, February 12, 2001

Washington-- Today, NASA attempts something never done before. Starting at 10:31 a.m. EST, mission controllers at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) will send commands to NASA's NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft in orbit around the asteroid Eros. Mission managers will initiate a series of engine burns over a 4-hour period in an attempt to bring the spacecraft down to the surface of the potato-shaped planetoid.

The space agency will provide an Internet video stream of the activities originating from APL, on NASA's home page at http://www.nasa.gov.

The web feed schedule is as follows (all times EST):
Monday, Feb. 12:
7 a.m. to 8 a.m. - Live shots from the NEAR Mission Operations Center (MOC)
11 a.m. - Breaking news to report on scheduled 10:31 a.m. engine firing
Noon - NEAR Video File
1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. - Descent Activities from NEAR MOC.
4 p.m. to 8 p.m. - Live shots from the NEAR MOC

Wednesday, Feb. 14:
Noon - NEAR Video File
1 p.m. - NEAR Post-Landing Press Briefing web cast