MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011

PHOTO CAPTION P-49951AC
July 8, 1998

Mr. Max D. Benton, (center) the president and founder of AEC-Able, the 
subcontractor responsible for the 60 meter mast that is part of the upcoming
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is flanked by Major General James C. King,
acting director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency,(left) and Dr. Edward
C. Stone, (right) director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Set for launch on the space shuttle in September 1999, the Shuttle Radar 
Topography Mission is designed to collect three-dimensional images of nearly 80 
percent of the Earth's land surface, except near the poles, with a resolution of
30 meters (98 feet).  To collect the 3-D data, engineers will add the 60-meter-
long (200-foot) mast, additional radar antenna, and improved navigation devices 
to the original Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C hardware, which flew twice on the 
shuttle in 1994. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA and the 
National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense, 
and is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Earth Science 
Enterprise.