SPACEPHOTOS

(07/16/1999) --- STS-93 Mission Specialist Michel Tognini of France, with the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), prepares to leave the T-38 jet aircraft that brought him to KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility. He and other crew members Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeffrey S. Ashby, and Mission Specialists Steven A. Hawley (Ph.D.) and Catherine G. 'Cady' Coleman (Ph.D.) are arriving for pre-launch activities. Tognini is making his inaugural Shuttle flight. The primary mission of STS-93 is the release of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which will allow scientists from around the world to study some of the most distant, powerful and dynamic objects in the universe. The new telescope is 20 to 50 times more sensitive than any previous X-ray telescope and is expected to unlock the secrets of supernovae, quasars and black holes