Official Nasa Communication N99-020a

David Steitz Headquarters, Washington, DC (Phone: 202/358-1730)

April 21, 1999

Catherine Watson U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA (Phone: 703/648-4732) NOTE TO EDITORS: N99-20a NASA AND USGS TO UNVEIL FIRST LANDSAT 7 IMAGE ON EARTH DAY NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey will unveil the first Landsat 7 image on Earth Day, April 22, opening a new era in the study of our home planet. Dr. Ghassem Asrar, NASA Associate Administrator for the Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC, and Dr. Bonnie McGregor, Associate Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, will unveil the image. Due to a scheduling conflict, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin will be unable to unveil the image as previously announced. The resolution of the new image is twice as good as previous Landsat images, distinctly highlighting airport runways, dams, cities, rivers and highways. The image unveiling is part of NASA's Earth Day and Take Our Daughters (and Sons) to Work Day activities, which will take place at 10:30 a.m. EDT in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium, in the west lobby of NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Washington, DC. Media are invited to attend. Landsat 7, launched April 15, is the latest in a series that began with Landsat 1 in 1972. The satellite is gathering data from Earth's land surface and surrounding coastal regions. Analysis of the data will provide scientists with new information on deforestation, receding glaciers and crop monitoring. After onorbit testing, NASA will turn the satellite over to the Geological Survey to manage. -end-