Steve Cole/Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918/202-358-1726
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov / dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-095
NASA SCHEDULES MEDIA EVENTS AND COVERAGE FOR NEW SOLAR MISSION LAUNCH
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)
mission is scheduled to launch at 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT)
Wednesday, June 26, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Launch on an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket is
targeted for the middle of a five-minute launch window. Live NASA
Television coverage of the launch begins at 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT).
NASA TV also will air an IRIS prelaunch news conference and science
briefing beginning at noon PDT (3 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday, June 25.
IRIS is a NASA Small Explorer Mission to observe how solar material
moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a
little-understood region in the sun's lower atmosphere. This
interface region between the sun's photosphere and corona powers its
dynamic million-degree atmosphere and drives the solar wind.
The drop of the air-launched Pegasus from Orbital's L-1011 carrier
aircraft will occur over the Pacific Ocean at an altitude of 39,000
feet, about 100 miles northwest of Vandenberg off the central coast
of California, south of Big Sur.
The IRIS News Center at Kennedy's Vandenberg Resident Office will be
staffed starting Monday, June 24 and may be reached between 8 a.m.
and 4:30 p.m. at 805-605-3051.
For complete details on media registration, media events, and live
launch coverage on NASA Television, visit:
http://go.nasa.gov/13L6djGNASA also will host a Google+ Hangout at 1:30 p.m. EDT June 25, on the
IRIS mission. Social media followers may submit questions on Twitter
and Google+ in advance and during the event using the hashtag
#askNASA.
Before the hangout begins, NASA will open a thread on its Facebook
page where questions may be posted. The hangout can be viewed live on
NASA's Google+ page, the NASA Television YouTube channel or NASA TV.
For more information and to join the hangout, visit:
http://go.nasa.gov/17039WYExtensive prelaunch and launch day coverage of the IRIS spacecraft
will be available on NASA's home page at:
http://www.nasa.govTo view the IRIS webcast and launch blog, and learn more about the
mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/iris
