Kyle Herring Headquarters, Washington Nov. 5, 2001 (Phone: 202/358-4504) John Ira Petty Johnson Space Center, Houston (Phone: 281/483-5111) NOTE TO EDITORS: N01-66 BRIEFINGS FOCUS ON SPACE STATION CREW EXCHANGE MISSION Space Shuttle Endeavour's mission delivering a new crew to the International Space Station will be the focus of press briefings beginning at 9 a.m. EST, Tuesday, Nov. 13, from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The briefings will air on NASA Television. The orbiter's 17th voyage into space -- designated STS-108 -- centers on delivering the Expedition Four crew to the station and returning the Expedition Three crew to Earth following four months in space. Endeavour's cargo bay will house the Raffaello Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), one of three high-tech moving vans provided to the program by the Italian Space Agency, and hardware for a spacewalk to install protective thermal blankets on station solar-array motors that precisely point the huge solar gathering "wings" delivered to the station a year ago. Endeavour currently is scheduled to launch Nov. 29 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Shuttle and station managers are scheduled to meet Nov. 15 to assess the readiness of Endeavour, the International Space Station, the crew, and launch and flight control teams for the mission. The meeting will conclude with the selection of a firm launch date. The mission marks the fourth use of the MPLM cargo carrier, which will deliver some two tons of hardware, clothing, food and supplies for use by the Expedtion Four crew. Raffaello currently is in an alternating rotation with its sister module, Leonardo, which has already been used twice. The briefings will begin with a space station program overview and conclude with a joint crew news conference. Interviews with the STS-108 and Expedition Four crewmembers will follow. The interviews will be with reporters at Johnson and with media representatives who have made arrangements in advance to participate by telephone. These interviews will not be televised and space is limited. Reporters planning to attend the briefings and participate in the round-robin interviews must contact the Johnson newsroom at 281/483-5111 by 6 p.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 8. NASA Television is available on GE-2, Transponder 9C, at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio of 6.8 MHz. -end- STS-108 AND EXPEDITION FOUR PREFLIGHT BRIEFINGS November 13, 2001 (all times EST) 9 a.m. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION OVERVIEW Bill Gerstenmaier, International Space Station Deputy Program Manager 10 a.m. STS-108 MISSION OVERVIEW Wayne Hale, STS-108 Lead Flight Director Sally Davis, STS-108 ISS Lead Flight Director Suzan Voss, STS-108 Launch Package Manager 11 a.m. STS-108 SPACEWALK OVERVIEW Kieth Johnson, STS-108 Lead EVA Officer 1:30 p.m. EXPEDITION FOUR MISSION OVERVIEW Susan Brand, Expedition Four Increment Manager John Uri, Lead Increment Scientist Tim Horvath, Expedition Four Lead Payload Operations Director, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 2 p.m. EXPEDITION FOUR CREW NEWS CONFERENCE Yury Onufrienko, Expedition Four Commander Carl Walz, Expedition Four Flight Engineer Dan Bursch, Expedition Four Flight Engineer 3 p.m. STS-108/EXPEDITION FOUR CREW NEWS CONFERENCE Dom Gorie, Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Mission Specialist 1 (MS 1) Linda Godwin Mission Specialist 2 (MS 2) Dan Tani Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko Expedition Four Flight Engineer Carl Walz Expedition Four Flight Engineer Dan Bursch 4 p.m. ROUND-ROBIN INTERVIEWS (NOT ON NASA TV)