The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) will conduct a press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. EST. The press briefing will be at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston.

CAIB Chairman, retired Navy Admiral Harold W. "Hal" Gehman Jr., will be joined by other members of his investigative team. The press conference will be an opportunity to review with the recent investigatory activities of the CAIB.

The press conference will be broadcast on NASA Television. Reporters may ask questions from selected NASA centers. NASA Television is broadcast on AMC-2, 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.

Media wishing to attend the briefing must contact JSC for accreditation no later than 9 a.m. CST Tuesday, February 18. Accreditation requests, on the letterhead of the sponsoring media organization, should be faxed to the JSC newsroom at: 281/483-2000.

For more information about NASA or the Columbia investigation on the Internet:

www.nasa.gov

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