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03-031
For Release: May 13, 2003

Lori J. Rachul
Media Relations Office
216/433-8806
Lori.J.Rachul{at}nasa.gov

NASA Webcast to Feature Astronaut Panel at Intel ISEF 2003

Some of the world's top high school science and engineering students
are coming to Cleveland May 11-17 for the 54th annual Intel
International Science and Engineering Fair, competing in 14
categories for more than $3 million in scholarships and other prizes.

A featured event will be the live interactive "Astronaut Panel"
presentation that will also be webcast and broadcast on Thursday May
15. The two-hour long program, beginning at 3 p.m. will unite some of
NASA's space pioneers to inspire the next generation of explorers and
innovators to continue to seek out answers to science and engineering
questions. The panel will talk about their experiences and answer
questions from the audience and webcast participants. This free event
is open to the general public and will be held at the Music Hall in
the Cleveland Convention Center.

Astronauts participating include the first African-American in space,
and Cleveland resident Dr. Guy Bluford; lunar module pilot for Apollo
17--the last scheduled Apollo mission to the moon, Dr. Jack Schmitt;
the first American woman to perform a spacewalk, and CEO and
President of COSI Columbus Dr. Kathy Sullivan; active astronauts Dr.
Franklin Chang-Diaz, a veteran of seven space flights; Cleveland
native Dr. Donald Thomas, a veteran of four shuttle flights; and the
cumulative record-holder for time spent in space with 748 days
Russian cosmonaut Sergey Avdeev. 

The webcast will be at http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/OEP/astro . It
will also be broadcast on NASA Television and Cleveland cable
television companies Adelphia Communications and Comcast. NASA
Television is broadcast on AMC-3, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at
85 degrees West longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization
is vertical and audio is monaural at 6.8 MHz. 

In addition to the Astronaut Panel webcast, the Educational Programs
Office at NASA's Glenn Research Center, Cleveland will support ISEF
by hosting four interactive Discovery Rooms. In the Rocket Racer room
students will learn more about the engineering process; paper
airplanes will be flying in the Incredible Lever room that will
demonstrate flight; and in another room students will simulate the
"puffy-head, bird-leg" syndrome, which occurs to astronauts in space.
NASA's Mobile Aerospace Education Lab featuring 10 computerized
workstations that will engage students in activities that result in a
cross-country airplane trip will also serve as a room. In addition,
employees will support the OhioView Remote Sensing Discovery Room
taking students on a virtual tour of Ohio communities using
satellite imagery. More than 35 NASA employees, including 20 Glenn
scientists and engineers, NASA contractors, University professors and
corporate partners will serve as judges for the competition.

Finalists will also have the opportunity to visit NASA Glenn to tour
a 60-foot long, 25-foot diameter vacuum chamber researchers use to
simulate the extreme condition of space; the Zero Gravity Research
Facility, used to drop microgravity research experiments over 400
feet into the ground through a vacuum chamber providing over 5
seconds of free fall; the GRUVE (Glenn Reconfigurable User Interface
and Virtual Reality Exploration) Laboratory used for developing
scientific visualization techniques and Glenn's Visitor Center.

Intel ISEF is the world's largest pre-college science fair that
brings together over a thousand of the most curious and capable young
science pioneers from the United States and 40 countries. They will
compete in 14 different science and engineering categories for over
$3 million dollars in scholarships, tuition grants, high-performance
computers, scientific excursions, and the grand prize includes a trip
to the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden.

For more information on Intel ISEF 2003 visit:
http://www.intelisef2003.org

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