The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996                TAG: 9603070417
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   43 lines

COLUMBIA LOST IT, YOU CAN FIND ITALIAN SATELLITE THIS WEEKEND

If the weather clears, early risers on Saturday should be able to glimpse an errant Italian satellite that broke free of the space shuttle Columbia last week. The satellite and the 12-mile-long tether it is dragging will likely appear as a fast-moving spot of light.

NASA has revised an announced viewing schedule because of the satellite's erratic and decaying orbit. The satellite is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up in two to three weeks.

In Hampton Roads, sightings should occur Saturday, Sunday and Monday. NASA cautions, however, that even this revised schedule could be off by several minutes because of uncertainties in calculating the satellite's exact path.

According to NASA, Hampton Roads sky watchers should look 11 degrees above the southern horizon at 5:01 a.m. Saturday as the satellite travels southeast. Sunday, the satellite can be seen at 5:19 a.m., appearing 11 degrees above south-southwest and moving southeast. Monday, the satellite and tether will also move southeast, but at 10 degrees above the south-southwest horizon.

All three appearances will be brief. The first will last roughly two minutes, and the second and third, three minutes each.

NASA calculations are for Norfolk only. The times and duration of the sightings will vary slightly, depending on where in Hampton Roads viewers live. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ILLUSTRATION: WEB SITE

NASA will offer daily sighting updates on its home page on the

World Wide Web, address http://shuttle.nasa.gov

Once there, browsers should access orbit, then shuttle, then

shuttle sighting information, then shuttle sighting list. The file

TSS/TETHER contains sighting times and information.

by CNB