Dwayne C. Brown
Headquarters, Washington, DC              February 4, 1999
(Phone: 202/358-1726)

Fred A. Brown
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
(Phone: 805/258-2663)

NOTE TO EDITORS:  N99-6

SPACE STATION CREW RETURN VEHICLE TO TAKE FINAL TEST

NASA will conduct the second and final flight of the X-38 Crew
Return Vehicle -- an innovative spacecraft design planned for use
as a future "lifeboat" for the International Space Station --
beginning at approximately 11:45 a.m. EST, Friday Feb. 5.  The
test will be carried live on NASA TV followed by a news conference
at 1 p.m. EST.

The vehicle will be released from a B-52 aircraft at
approximately 22,000 feet and will fly freely for about 10 seconds
before parafoils are deployed to guide it to its landing point.
After Friday's test, conducted from NASA's Dryden Flight Research
Center, Edwards ,CA,  the vehicle will be redesigned to look like
an 80 percent scale model of the eventual spacecraft.

Though the spacecraft's primary purpose would be as a
"lifeboat," the design could be easily modified for other uses,
such as a possible international human spacecraft that could be
launched on the French Ariane 5 booster.

NASA-TV is on GE-2, transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees West
longitude, with vertical polarization. Frequency will be on 3880
megahertz with audio on 6.8 megahertz.

                              -end-