Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington DC                 June 23, 2000
(Phone: 202/358-1761)

Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

MEDIA ADVISORY:  M00-125

PICTURES/VIDEO RELEASED:  NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HISPANIC 
JOURNALISTS "STUDENT CAMPUS" VISITS JOHNSON SPACE CENTER

     NASA has released pictures and video capturing the visit of 
forty aspiring journalists to NASA's Johnson Space Center, 
Houston, TX, on June 19, during which the students participated in 
a press briefing from Astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz.

     The visit was part of a "Student Campus" educational effort 
sponsored by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, 
currently holding its annual conference in Houston.  The group had 
an opportunity for an inside look at the historic Mission Control 
Center and heard from Milt Heflin, an experienced flight director 
who is currently deputy chief of the Flight Director Office.

     Six-time Space Shuttle veteran Franklin Chang-Diaz, a native 
of Costa Rica, presented a briefing on an advanced rocket 
technology that could cut in half the time required to reach Mars.  
The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) has 
been under development at Johnson's Advanced Space Propulsion 
Laboratory under the direction of Chang-Diaz, who holds a 
doctorate in applied plasma physics. Students were then required 
to produce their final stories based on the briefing, on deadline, 
as part of a real-word experience in reporting. 

     NASA TV Videofile will show footage of the students' visit at 
3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and midnight EDT.  NASA TV may be accessed 
through GE2, transponder 9C. The frequency is 3880 MHz, with an 
orbital position of 85 degrees West Longitude, with audio at 6.8 
MHz. This is a full transponder service and is operational 24 
hours a day.

     Still images are available on the Internet at:  

          http://www.nasa.gov/newsinfo/hjphotos.html

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