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Tuesday, March 13, 2006 GLOBALFLYER MISSION CONTROL TO BE BROADCAST ON TV AND ONLINE; PUBLIC VIEWING ALSO AVAILABLE ON K-STATE AT SALINA CAMPUS SALINA – During the next GlobalFlyer record attempt, slated to take place this week, the public will be able to watch Mission Control activities on Salina Community Access, Cox channel 19. In addition, this video will be streamed to the official GlobalFlyer tracking Web site provided by Kansas State University at Salina. Access to the Mission Control room also will be available to the public by visiting the College Center on the K-State at Salina campus, where Mission Control is housed. Public viewing will be permitted from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day of the flight. However, in case of emergency or other unforeseen circumstances that may arise during the flight, public access to Mission Control may be limited at any time. While the function of Mission Control remains the same as during previous GlobalFlyer missions, the aesthetic nature of it will be much more limited than in the past. With a focus on function, it will be a much scaled-back center that features the teams of students working, along with their computers and a large projection screen tracking the flight’s progress. The next flight will be an attempt to set the closed-course distance record and is slated to begin and end in Salina. Unlike the 2005 flight, which also took place in Salina, Virgin Atlantic will not be sending staff to Salina for the flight. For that reason, K-State students, faculty and staff will be providing the leadership and infrastructure for the operations in Mission Control, as well as handling the Web site maintenance and mission updates throughout the flight. For more information about K-State at Salina’s role in the next GlobalFlyer attempt, or to access the Web video of Mission Control once the flight has begun, visit http://www.salina.k-state.edu/globalflyer |