Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                        
March 7, 1994
(Phone:  202/358-1779)

Jerry Berg/Dave Drachlis
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 205/544-0034)

RELEASE:  94-35


DATE SET FOR SECOND FLIGHT OF TETHER EXPERIMENT

   The second mission of NASA's Small Expendable-tether Deployer 
System (SEDS-2) is scheduled to be launched no earlier than 10:32 
p.m. EST March 9 from Space Launch Complex 17 at the Cape 
Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.  It will be a secondary payload 
on a U.S. Air Force Delta II rocket carrying a NAVSTAR Global 
Positioning System Satellite.

   Deployment of the SEDS-2 payload is planned to begin 
approximately 
66 minutes after the Delta liftoff.  The instrumented package is 
to unreel for an additional 109 minutes, reaching a maximum 
planned distance of 12.4 miles (20 km) from the deployer, in a 
downward (toward Earth) direction.

   The SEDS project is intended to demonstrate a versatile and 
economical way of delivering smaller payloads, such as 
micro-satellites, to higher orbits or 
downward toward Earth's atmosphere.  The second mission will 
investigate how well SEDS permits controlling the dynamics of 
payload deployment.

   The SEDS project is sponsored by NASA's Office of Space Systems 
Development in Washington, D.C., and is managed by the Marshall 
Center in Huntsville, Ala.  The payload is managed and developed 
by the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.  The Goddard Space 
Flight Center in 

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Greenbelt, Md., is responsible for integrating SEDS with the 
launch vehicle.  Tether Applications in Chula Vista, Calif., is 
the inventor and developer of SEDS.

Editor's Note:  There will be no NASA news center in operation for 
the SEDS-2 mission.  However, following the deployment, news media 
with questions may call 205/544-0034.  Also, a written status 
report concerning the outcome of the SEDS mission will be 
distributed by fax as soon as possible after results are known.  
Media wishing to receive the status report should provide a fax 
number to the Marshall Space Flight Center Media Services office 
by calling 205/544-0034.

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