Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington, DC                       July 23, 1999
(Phone:  202/358-1761)

Doug Peterson
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone:  281/483-5111)

MEDIA ADVISORY:  m99-151

NASA ASTRONAUTS HELP LAUNCH A NEW 
MILLENNIUM AT LA RAZA NATIONAL CONFERENCE

     A team of NASA astronauts will share space flight experiences 
with thousands of attendees at the 1999 Annual Conference of La 
Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization.  
The conference begins on Saturday, July 24, at the George R. Brown 
Convention Center in Houston, TX.

     Veteran astronaut Ellen Ochoa will talk about the influence 
of Hispanics in the space program at the National Affiliate 
Breakfast, at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.  Ochoa played a key role in 
this spring's STS-96 mission to the International Space Station.  
At the breakfast, she will recognize La Raza, relate the drama of 
the first mission to the space station and emphasize the 
importance of math and science for youth who aspire to space 
exploration.

     As a prelude to the conference, astronaut Carlos Noriega 
addressed approximately 75 students today at NASA's Johnson Space 
Center in Houston, sharing his space flight experiences.  Tammy 
Jernigan, a space walking crew member of the recent space station 
mission, and NASA astronaut candidate John Olivas will be honored 
guests at the conference's Monday luncheon, to be attended by over 
2,000 people.

     As part of NASA's participation in La Raza's conference, 
astronauts Jernigan and Olivas will engage visitors in question 
and answer sessions and sign autographs in the Latino Expo USA at 
the conference site. 

                               -end-