Mission Name: STS-999 (68)
  Endeavour (8)
  Pad 39-A (53)
  68th Shuttle Mission
  8th Flight OV-105
  10th Night Launch
  1st Launch new AF Range Control Center

Crew:
  Stephen S. Oswald (3), Commander
  William G. Gregory (1), Pilot
  Tamara E. Jernigan (3) , Payload Commander
  John M. Grunsfeld (1), Mission Specialist
  Wendy B. Lawrence (1), Mission Specialist
  Ronald A. Parise (2), Payload Specialist
  Samuel T. Durrance (2), Payload Specialist

  Scott D. Vangen (0), Alternate Payload Specialist

Milestones:
     OPF -- 
     VAB -- 02/03/95
     PAD -- 02/08/95
    
     01/05/95 - Interface Verification Test
     01/11/95 - End-to-End Communications Test
     02/03/95 - Rollover to VAB
     02/13/95 - Launch Readiness Review
     02/08/95 - Rollout to LC-39A
     02/14/95 - Start Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test
     02/15/95 - Flight Readiness Review (10:00am)
     02/15/95 - Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test T-0 (11:00am)
     02/20/95 - Close AFT Engine Compartment
     02/21/95 - Ordanance Installation
     02/24/95 - Close Payload Bay Doors
     02/26/95 - Crew Arrives at KSC (10:45pm)
     02/27/95 - Begin STS-67 Launch Countdown (2:00am)


Payload:
  ASTRO-2, MACE, GAS(x2),PCG-TES-03,PCG-STES-02,SAREX-II,CMIX-03,MSX

Mission Objectives:
   Astro-2 is the second dedicated Spacelab mission to conduct
astronomical observations in the ultraviolet spectral regions.  It
consists of three unique instruments - the Hopkins Ultraviolet
Telescope (HUT), the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) and the
Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE).  These
experiments will select targets from a list of over 600 and observe
objects ranging from some inside the solar system to individual stars,
nebulae, supernova remnants, galaxies and active extragalactic
objects.  This data will supplement data collected on the Astro-1
mission flown on STS-35 in December 1990 aboard Columbia.

	Because most ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by Earth's
atmosphere, it cannot be studied from the ground.  The far and extreme
ultraviolet region of the spectrum was largely unexplored before
Astro-1, but knowledge of all wavelengths is essential to obtain an
accurate picture of the universe.  Astro-2 will have almost twice the
duration of its predecessor, and a launch at a different time of year
allows the telescopes to view different portions of the sky.  The
mission promises to fill in large gaps in astronomers' understanding
of the universe and lay the foundations for more discovery in the
future.
  
 On the Middeck, science experiments include the Protein Crystal Growth 
Thermal Enclosure System Vapor Diffusion Apparatus-03 experiment 
(PCG-TES-03), the Protein Crystal Growth Single Thermal Enclosure 
System-02 (PCG-STES-02), the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II
(SAREX-II), the Middeck Active Control Experiment (MACE), the Commercial 
Materials Dispersion Apparatus Instrumentation Technology Associates 
Experiments-03 (CMIX-03) and the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX).

 The Middeck Active Control Experiment (MACE) is a space engineering
research payload.  It consists of a rate gyro, reaction wheels, a
precision pointing payload, and a scanning and pointing payload that
produces motion disturbances.  The goal of the experiment is to test a
closed loop control system that will compensate for motion disturbances.  
On orbit, Commander Stephen S. Oswald and William G. Gregory will use 
MACE to test about 200 different motion disturbance situations over 45 
hours of testing during the mission.  Information from MACE will be 
used to design better control systems that compensate for motion in 
future spacecraft.

 Two Get Away Special (GAS) payloads are also on board.  They are 
the G-387 and G-388 canisters.   This experiment is sponsored by the 
Australian Space Office and AUSPACE ltd.  The objectives are to make 
ultraviolet observations of deep space or nearby galaxies.   These 
observations will be made to study the structure of galactic supernova 
remnants, the distribution of hot gas in the Magellanic Clouds, the 
hot galactic halo emission, and emission associated with galactic cooling 
flows and jets.  The two GAS canisters are interconnected with a cable.
Canister 1 has a motorized door assembly that exposes a UV telescope 
to space when opened.  UV reflective filters on the telescopes optics 
determine its UV bandpass.  Canister 2 contains two video recorders for 
data storage and batteries to provide experiment power.

Launch:  
  Launch March 2, 1995. 1:38:34 am EST. Launch window was 2 hour 30 min.

  At 9:09pm EST, the only launch constraints were weather related with a 
40% chance for launch.  At 9:11pm the astronauts had their breakfast in the
astronaut quarters on the 3rd floor of the Operations and Checkout building .
Commander Stephen S. Oswald and William G. Gregory were given a final 
weather briefing while the rest of the crew suited up.  At 10:22pm, the 
STS-67 crew left for Pad 39-A and arrived at 10:42pm.  By 11:58pm the 
crew was all loaded and communications air-to-ground voice checks were 
completed.  By 12:50am on 3/2/95, the door to Endeavour's mid-deck was 
sealed and a go was given to clear the white room.  

  There were 4 minor problems tracked during the count.  The first
problem occured early in the count.  An experimental configuration of
communications system caused a timing glitch that was quickly corrected.
This configuration enables the orbiter to use the TDRSS during ascent 
in lew of the Bermuda Tracking station.   The goal was to get a 
communications lock via TDRSS in 7 seconds instead of a normal 40 seconds 
and if successful, this will improved safety and may eventually
reduce the need for the Bermuda Tracking station.  The second problem
was a minor leak in the LH2 storage system on Pad 39-A.  This leak will
be investigated when crews visit the pad after launch.  The third
minor problem occured when Endeavours Fuel Cells showed a degradation
in Fuel cell efficency. This was traced to a Helium contamination
during EDO pallet fill.  A purge of the line fixed the problem.

  At 1:26am a poll of the launch team identified all teams but one
were go for launch.  The final problem was an indication that the
B-supply secondary heater of the Flash Evaporator System was
approaching a redline condition.  This system is normally shutoff just
before launch.  At 1:29am the primary FES was brought online and the
clock was picked up with a plan to count down to the T-5 min mark.
The FES was verified as good and the count only suffered a 1 min delay
with this problem.  APU prestart was complete at 1:32am.  APU start
completed at 1:34am. Launch occured at 1:38am EST.

  Good SRB Seperations. Negative Return called at 1:42am EST, all 3
SSME's performed well.  At T+6min Endeavour was at 367,000ft altitude
and 335nm downrange.  At T+7min Endeavour was at 359,000ft and 354nm
downrange, traveling at 11,200mph.  At T+8:30, (1:47am EST) the Space
Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) cutoff as planned with Endeavour traveling
at 16,700mph, 800nm downrange.  External Tank seperation confirmed at
1:48am EST.

  Earlier during the STS-67 mission flow, on 02/21/95, a failed
shuttle Mass Memory Unit #1 was removed from Endeavour and replaced
with one from Discovery .  On 02/23/95, troubleshooting was done on a
minor leak in Endeavours Flash Evaporator System (FES) Freon coolant
loop.  The system was overpressurized and it was determined the leak
posed no impact to launch.


Orbit:
  Altitude:  190 nm
  Inclination:  28.45 degrees
  Orbits:  262
  Duration:   16 days, 15 hours, 9 minutes, 46 seconds. 
  Distance:  6.9 million miles

Hardware:
  SRB: BI-071
  SRM: 360W/L043
  ET :  SN-69
  MLP : 1
  SSME-1: SN-2012
  SSME-2: SN-2033
  SSME-3: SN-2031

Landing:  
  Dryden Flight Research Center, EAFB, March 18, 1995 at 4:47 p.m. EST 
Runway 22.  

At 1:05pm EST the port Payload Bay Door was closed with
the remaining door closed and latched by 1:08pm EST.  At 3:35pm EST,
Endeavour was given a go for deorbit burn with the start of the 
517ft/sec burn occuring at approximately 3:40pm EST. Endeavour went
subsonic at 46,000ft.  Main gear touchdown at MET (16/15:8:47), nose 
wheel touchdown at (16/15:9:01) and wheels stop at MET (16/15:9:46sec).
  
  On Friday, March 17, 1995 at 8 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #30 
reports: Endeavour had 3 scheduled KSC landing opportunities for
Friday 3/17/95 (1:53pm CST on orbit 246, 3:30pm CST on orbit 247 and
5:07pm on orbit 248) but they have been waived off due to bad weather
at the Kennedy Space Center.  NASA managers elected not to call up
landing support at the backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base
in California for Friday and would keep the astronauts aloft for an
extra day in the event weather prevents a landing in Florida.

  For Saturday, backup landing support at Edwards has been activated
and there were 6 landing opportunities for March 18, 1995. (KSC landing
at 2:18pm CST on orbit 261, Edwards landing at 3:47pm CST on orbit 262
and another KSC opportunity at 3:55pm CST.  Two other Edwards landings
and one KSC landing opportunities exist later in the day.

Mission Highlights:
  On Thursday, March 2, 1995 at 2:18am CST (MET 1hr 39min), the
payload bay doors were opened and the crew was given a go for orbit
operations. 

  STS-999 Flight Day 1 Highlights:

  STS-67 MCC Status Report #01 reports: The crew --
Commander Stephen S. Oswald, Pilot William G. Gregory, Payload
Commander Tamara E. Jernigan, Mission Specialists John M. Grunsfeld
and Wendy B. Lawrence, and Payload Specialists Samuel T. Durrance and
Ronald A. Parise -- readied the shuttle and ASTRO-2 to support 15 and
a half days of astronomical observations.  The Blue Team of crew
members -- Jernigan, Lawrence and Durrance -- were on duty mornings
aboard the spacecraft while their fellow crewmembers, called the Red
Team, slept. The Red crew members took over duties at about 10:52
a.m.

 On Thursday, March 2, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #01
states: (0/5:22 MET) Payload Commander Tammy Jernigan completed initial 
activation of the Spacelab pallet systems just before 4 a.m then began 
activating the Spacelab Instrument Pointing System. At 5:47 a.m., she 
raised it upright in the Shuttle cargo bay to face the heavens.  Astronomers
will use the pointing system to precisely track the stars and galaxies
they study during the nearly 16-day mission.

   Payload controllers and science teams at NASA's Spacelab Mission
Operations Control center in Huntsville watched closely as Payload
Specialist Samuel T. Durrance supplied power from the Spacelab to the
telescopes shortly after 4 a.m., then started step-by-step procedures
to activate the individual instruments.  Samuel T. Durrance, an
astronomer from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., is a
veteran of the Astro-1 mission on STS-35 in December 1990, which was
the maiden Shuttle flight for all three Astro telescopes.

 On Thursday, March 2, 1995 at 8:00 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #02 
reports: The Blue Team -- Payload Commander Tammy Jernigan,
Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence and Payload Specialist Sam Durrance
will wrap up its first day on orbit shortly before noon Central
time. The Red Team -- Commander Steve Oswald, Pilot Bill Gregory,
Mission Specialist John Grunsfield and Payload Specialist Ron Parise
will then continue with the science activities.

 On Thursday, March 2, 1995 at 5:00 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #03 
reports: Activation and calibration of the Astro-2 ultraviolet
telescopes are continuing slightly behind schedule following a
steering jet leak that has twice forced closure of the instruments
protective doors.  The leak is in a reaction control system thruster
designated R4R, a jet in the right aft orbital maneuvering system pod
that is aimed to the right of the shuttle. Flight controllers worked
with the crew to close the manifold that supplies oxidizer and fuel to
that jet, which effectively stopped the leak.

   The doors on the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, the 
Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment and the 
Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope were first closed to protect the 
instruments from any remaining oxidizer coming out of that jet 
after the manifold was closed. Once the thruster's propellant lines 
had been evacuated, the telescope doors were reopened. The doors were 
briefly closed again while residual propellant downstream of the closed 
manifold dissipated, but are now open and all scheduled operations have
resumed.

  The failed jet, which is not being used to position the orbiter for
its science operations, is not a safety hazard in any way, and does
not affect the mission duration. The flight control team is looking at
options in dealing with the jet, but has not yet decided whether any
additional actions will be necessary.

 On Thursday, March 2, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #02 
reports: (0/17:22 MET) Payload Commander Tammy Jernigan
continued checkout of the Instrument Pointing System, on which the
three ultraviolet telescopes are mounted.  The crew reported success
with their first automatic star identification procedure at about 6:30
a.m. CST, verifying that the pointing system can center accurately on
the celestial objects Astro-2 science teams will choose to view.

  Payload Specialist Sam Durrance finished activating the Ultraviolet
Imaging Telescope, then completed the more complicated procedures to
put the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope into operation. Pilot Bill
Gregory, Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld and Payload Specialist Ron
Parise took over operations from the first crew at 11:30 a.m.  The two
crew teams are working 12-hour shifts, so astronomical observations
can continue around the clock.

   Activation and verification of the Wisconsin Ultraviolet
Photo- Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) detector was delayed by
difficulties keeping it aligned with a test target, but the WUPPE
science team and Parise corrected the problem after several attempts.
Alternate Payload Specialist John-David Bartoe reported from the
ground, "Ron, the WUPPE folks are ecstatic down here, and they like
everything they see."

   Astro telescope verification was interrupted briefly at around
1:15 p.m., when ground controllers closed the telescope doors to
prevent contamination by oxidizer leaking from one of Endeavour's
reaction control system thrusters.  The thruster was closed less than
hour later, and Parise reopened the doors.
	
   During the telescope shutdown, Grunsfeld continued checking
out the Instrument Pointing System and the Image Motion Compensation
System, which keeps the WUPPE instrument and the imaging telescope on
target despite subtle disturbances.  Johnson Space Center controllers
declared the Instrument Pointing System operational at 1:53 p.m., and
they transferred control of the equipment to the Marshall Center
payload team for science activities.

   Parise and Grunsfeld then began an extended procedure called Joint
Focus and Alignment, one that is unique for space telescopes to the
Astro-2 payload.  Since all three instruments often make simultaneous
observations of the same objects, science teams must be certain they
are pointing in precisely the same direction and are in near-perfect
focus. Final focusing and calibration of the Hopkins and Wisconsin
instruments will continue through the first half of the upcoming
shift.  Astro-2 observations of the ultraviolet sky will then begin.

 On Thursday, March 2, 1995 at 8 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #04 
reports: The Instrument Pointing System continues to perform
well. The preliminary assessments of IPS stability and accuracy show
that the system is operating well. Control loop software, gyro and
accelerometer response have been good, and Optical Sensor Package
performance has been excellent with two of three trackers slightly
exceeding performance expectations. IPS controllers in Houston are
currently tracking no problems or issues, and team members do not
anticipate a change in the IPS's performance.

   The payload control team at the Marshall Space Flight Center,
Huntsville, Ala., however, is looking at several reported excursions
in ASTRO-2's pointing abilities that have required the crew to
repeatedly fine tune the instruments after establishing the platform's
reference point for celestial observations. Controllers in Houston and
Huntsville are working on procedures that will reduce the number of
calibrations needed.

 On Thursday, March 2, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #03 
reports: (1/5:22 MET) Pilot William Gregory maneuvered the
orbiter into different attitudes, or positions throughout the night.
Payload Commander Tammy Jernigan, Mission Specialists John Grunsfeld
and Wendy Lawrence, and Payload Specialists Ronald Parise and Samuel
Durrance coordinated with science teams at Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama, performing procedures to align and
focus the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), Ultraviolet Imaging
Telescope (UIT) and Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment
(WUPPE) last night.  Approximately 23 hours after launch, the Astro-2
instruments, nestled in Endeavour's cargo bay, were being calibrated
before observations of the invisible universe began.

    While still in the calibration, or Observatory Commissioning
Phase, two of the three Astro-2 instruments, HUT and UIT science
teams, were locked onto an ancient supernova remnant.  This supernova
remnant is the result of a powerful explosion, which ended the life of
a massive star many thousands of years ago, and was used as a
calibration target for the telescopes.  During this mission, HUT's
spectrographs will help scientists determine temperatures, densities
and chemical compositions of gases in the supernova remnant while the
UIT will image the filaments of excited gas in the supernova remnant.
HUT Guest Investigator Dr. John Raymond of Cambridge, Mass., will
obtain information about the shock waves energizing these nebulae.

  The first science observation for Astro-2, a supernova remnant
known as Cygnus Loop, began just before the Space Shuttle Endeavour
crossed the South Atlantic Anomaly early this morning.  Since this
South Atlantic area is a region of intense particle radiation that can
affect detectors in the telescopes, crew members secured the
instruments until the orbiter had moved away from the anomaly.  The
observation of Cygnus Loop then continued until the supernova remnant
was out of the telescopes' field of view.

  The HUT telescope continues in the calibration phase.  HUT,
developed at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, has
a 36-inch mirror to focus ultraviolet light into a spectrograph in the
middle of the telescope.  This spectrograph "spreads" light into a
spectrum, or band of colors, based upon the wavelength of the light.
Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Davidsen and his colleagues will
study these spectra to determine the chemical composition,
temperature, densities and motion of the celestial objects being
observed during Astro-2.

    The UIT made its first deep, wide-field photographs in ultraviolet
light overnight.  After Endeavour lands, Principal Investigator
Theodore Stecher and the UIT science team in Greenbelt, Maryland, will
study the images made by this telescope during this 16-day mission,
looking for answers to astronomical questions such as the shapes of
nearby galaxies in the ultraviolet, the properties of massive hot
stars in these galaxies, the evolution of low-mass stars in clusters,
and the nature of the dust and gas that fill the space between stars.

  STS-999 Flight Day 2 Highlights:

 On Friday, March 3, 1995 at 4 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #05
states: Commander Steve Oswald and Pilot Bill Gregory set up the
Middeck Active Control Experiment (MACE) hardware. MACE is a five-foot
long flexible beam with mock satellite instruments mounted at either
end. It will float free in the shuttle's lower deck, and the
astronauts will measure how disturbances caused by one instrument
affect the performance of the instrument at the experiment's opposite
end. The information gathered will assist engineers in designing more
stable space structures.  The crew tested the MACE equipment and its
communications with the ground. Some problems were experienced
initially in sending information from the ground to the experiment
during checkouts, however such an uplink of information is not planned
or needed for the MACE operations for several days. Meanwhile,

 On Friday, March 3, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #04 
states: (1/17:22 MET) The three Astro-2 telescopes have begun 
their methodical exploration of the ultraviolet universe, as
scientists aboard the Shuttle Endeavour and at Spacelab Mission
Operations Control fine-tune the Astro-2 equipment and procedures to
optimize pointing stability. This afternoon, payload controllers
eliminated a drift in that had been detected in the Instrument
Pointing System by adjusting the target acquisition procedure.

  The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)
got its first turn as the primary instrument this morning.  Its
observations of a calibration star, Beta Cassiopeiae, showed that the
instrument optics, spectrometer and motion compensation system are
working well.  The team also will use the star as an unpolarized
standard against which other observations can be measured.

  The WUPPE team also made the first of several planned observations
of the supergiant star P Cygni.  These observations will help
scientists determine how this type of star ejects material into
interstellar space, whether uniformly in the shape of a shell, or in
the form of plumes or blobs of material.  Team members say this is an
interesting time to observe P Cygni, because recent ground-and
space-based observations indicate the star, which has been relatively
inactive for the past 100 years, has entered a more active phase of
its life.  Because the star can vary on a day-to-day basis,
observations made later in the mission will give astronomers an
important set of measurements over a relatively short time.

  During its time block, the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT)
observed a celestial "odd couple," two stars with radically different
temperatures in orbit around one another, called a symbiotic star
system.  The system HUT observed today, EG Andromedae, is made up of
an orange-colored giant star co-orbiting with a tiny, exceptionally
hot blue star.  Astronomers had not realized how hot the smaller star
is until an instrument aboard one of the Voyager planetary probes
picked up its strong ultraviolet emissions.

  The HUT team also checked out the sensitivity of their spectrometer
by viewing a white dwarf star, known as HZ 43, which they had observed
during Astro-1.  At a very late stage of its evolution, the star has
burned up nearly all of its fuel.  Astronomers understand physical
conditions in the atmospheres of HZ 43 and similar white dwarfs well
enough that they can calculate very precisely how much ultraviolet
light they emit.  This makes such stars useful for confirming the HUT
instrument's calibrations.

	The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) observations included
images of globular clusters, massive spherical concentrations of stars
that are the oldest class of objects in our Milky Way Galaxy.  "These
clusters appear to be 16 to 19 billion years old, despite recent
Hubble indications that the universe is only about 10 billion years
old," said UIT astronomer Dr. Steve Maran.  "UIT images of globular
clusters from Astro-1 revealed a previously unknown class of stars,
visible only in the ultraviolet, which may have skipped a stage in
stellar evolution as we had understood it.  We're hoping follow-up
observations of globular clusters during Astro-2 will give us a better
understanding of stellar physics."

  STS-999 Flight Day 3 Highlights:

 On Saturday, March 4, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #05 
reports: (2/5:22 MET) The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope
(HUT) led the observations of several celestial objects, starting with
AX Persei, a double star system consisting of a red star paired off
with a blue star in what is known as a symbiotic binary.  This means
that the two stars differ greatly in their temperature ranges.  They
are believed to be a pair in which gas from a large, cool star falls
onto a smaller, but more massive companion.  Not much is known about
how these stars interact, and data from these observations will help
improve current measurements of the hot star component's temperature
and gas emissions.

  The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)
also obtained "great observations" of the AX Persei star system,
according to WUPPE guest investigator Dr. Regina Schulte-Ladbeck.  In
a live interview with TV station WPXI in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
Dr. Schulte-Ladbeck described the instrument's view of the stellar
pair as "picture perfect from an operational point of view."

   Dr. Schulte-Ladbeck also used HUT and WUPPE to obtain spectral
measurements of a Wolf-Rayet star known as EZ Canis Majoris.
Wolf-Rayet stars are thought to represent one of the final phases of
evolution in massive stars that are between 100,000 and 1,000,000
times as bright as the Sun.  Wolf-Rayet stars have powerful stellar
winds, or emissions of ionized gas, that quicken the stars' aging
process.  The composition of these stellar winds is also important
because the elements they contain play a significant role in forming
the basic chemistry of life.  According to Dr. Schulte-Ladbeck, last
night's measurements alone, of the strength and composition of this
stellar wind, have already yielded "more information about EZ Canis
Majoris than we ever got on Astro-1."

  The Astro-2 scientists also turned their attention to one of
their prime targets of investigation, the brightest known Seyfert
galaxy, NGC 4151.  Seyfert galaxies are known for their extremely
bright and compact centers and radiate energy most strongly in the
ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths.

  Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) observations included
images of a globular cluster, NGC6752, and a spiral galaxy, M101.
Globular clusters are collections of relatively old stars, and they
are particularly suitable for observations by UIT due to the presence
of hot stars which emit most of their radiation in the ultraviolet
range.  This enables UIT astronomers to locate hot white dwarf stars,
hot binary systems and objects associated with sources of X-rays.

  Spiral galaxies, like our Milky Way, are flattened discs with
central bulges or nuclei from which the galaxies' arms extend.  M101
is a big spiral galaxy with spiral arms that are not tightly wound.
UIT's ultraviolet imaging offers a powerful new tool for the study of
this spiral structure, since it emphasizes hot stars, hydrogen and
dust.

  Early in the morning, the Astro-2 instruments made observations
of the Cygnus Loop, a middle-aged supernova remnant.  A supernova is
one of the most powerful explosions in the universe, and it occurs at
the end of a very massive star's life after the star's fusion reaction
stops.  The Cygnus Loop is of particular interest because it reveals
details about the structure and speed of shock waves from the
explosion as they travel through the interstellar medium.

  Jupiter had became a focus of investigation earlier in the
evening, especially for the HUT science team who obtained very good
spectral data on the planet's equator.  The planet is believed to have
a reservoir of heat energy left over from its creation, since Jupiter
radiates twice as much energy as it receives from the Sun.  HUT
scientists are particularly interested in the planet's immense
magnetosphere, a region of charged particles controlled by Jupiter's
magnetic field.

 On Saturday, March 4, 1995 at 1 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #06 
reports: During the past shift, the crew received word from
scientists who designed the Australian ultraviolet experiment that is
flying in two Getaway Special canisters in the cargo bay. The
experimenters reported they have achieved 100 percent of desired
observations and expressed a sincere thanks and appreciation for the
support they received during this mission. In addition, Jernigan and
Lawrence participated in an interview with National Public Radio as
Durrance supported the Astro-2 observations.

  STS-999 Flight Day 4 Highlights:

 On Sunday, March 5, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #07 
reports: (3/5:22 MET) Commander Steve Oswald maneuvered the Space
Shuttle Endeavour to enable the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) to
lead an observation of a mysterious star in the constellation
Cassiopeia.  This star, known to astronomers as KPD0005, belongs to a
class of planetary nebulae, or clouds of gas with bright centers, that
includes some of the hottest stars known.  So hot are these stars'
surfaces, in fact, that their elements are completely ionized, making
their chemical composition difficult to analyze.  Only ultraviolet
astronomy, such as the Astro-2 instruments employ, can yield answers
to questions about the chemistry and evolution of this type of star.

   Following this, the HUT science team then turned their
attention back to the search for signs of interstellar helium, using
light from a distant quasar, known as 1700+64.  Since it is believed
that helium was formed in the Big Bang at the beginning of the
universe, the actual detection of intergalactic helium would probably
be the most significant scientific result that the HUT observations
might produce.  Because of the enormous distances of these objects,
the targets are necessarily faint, and such observations are the most
difficult that HUT scientists will attempt.  They are also the most
sensitive measurements ever made for interstellar helium.

   Another priority for the HUT scientists involves the study of
Type II Seyfert galaxies.  These galaxies, such as NGC1068 which was
observed last night, have bright centers that emit energy over a broad
range of frequencies.  It is believed that the core of NGC #1068 is
ionized by shock waves of gas moving at hundreds of miles per second,
and the ultraviolet observations by the Astro-2 instruments are
testing this hypothesis.

    The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)
team has also taken great interest in NGC 1068 and made some very
difficult indirect observations of the galaxy's core using the
electron cloud above the galaxy as a polarization mirror.  "By
observing the diffuse light reflected from the electron cloud, we are
able to take measurements of the otherwise obscure nucleus of the
galaxy," said WUPPE co-investigator Karen Bjorkman.  On Astro-1,
observations by WUPPE helped confirm that a thick torus, or
doughnut-shaped cloud, exists around the nucleus of NGC #1068, while
HUT observations showed unexpectedly high temperatures near the torus.

   Early in the morning, WUPPE scientists also took the opportunity
to view a couple of interactive binary star systems, V356 Sagittarii
and Vela X-1.  A binary star system consists of a pair of stars that
orbit each other.  In the case of an interactive binary, the stars
stay so close to each other that they actually exchange gases.

   Astronomers believe that in an X-ray binary such as Vela X-1,
a neutron star (or pulsar) gravitationally strips material off of its
companion star.  A lot of the stripped material settles into orbit to
form an oval disc shape.  Polarization measurements by WUPPE allow
scientists to measure the size and shape of this disc, and it also
provides information about the stars involved.  As WUPPE Principal
Investigator Arthur Code observed, "the unique feature of interactive
binary stars' polarization is that we can use that information to
calculate the mass exchanged between the stars."  Last night's
observations were enhanced by the fact that the Astro-2 instruments
could view both members of each binary side by side as they interact.

   The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) made observations of
an open cluster called NGC #3532.  This is a diffuse cluster of stars
and is believed to be less than ten million years old.  Because UIT's
field of view is well matched to the sizes of most clusters in our
Milky Way Galaxy, UIT scientists are able to perform ultraviolet
observations of many stars at the same time.  UIT observers are
searching for ultraviolet counterparts to X-ray sources as well as for
white dwarfs and other faint, hot stars.  These ultraviolet-bright
objects are of great interest for several reasons: they can be used as
probes of the interstellar medium; they can be used to provide highly
accurate distance measurements to the clusters; and they will enhance
understanding of the chemical evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy.

   UIT also imaged several ancient globular clusters in our Milky
Way galaxy as well as other nearby spiral galaxies.  The latter
observations will be used to further our understanding of
star-formation in the spiral arms of these galaxies.

 On Sunday, March 5, 1995 at 1 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #07
stated that there has been some indications that the crew's stationary
bicycle exercise is imparting some vibration to the shuttle that is
interfering with the Instrument Pointing System's ability to precisely
direct the Astro-2 telescopes at their targets. The crew is being
asked to schedule exercise a little earlier so that the vibration has
stopped by the time Endeavour moves into darkness and celestial
observations must resume.

 On Sunday, March 5, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #08 
reports: (3/17:22 MET) Both the Hopkins telescope and the
Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo- Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) examined
two Seyfert galaxies, Markarian 279 and Fairall 9, in a study that
could provide insights into some of the most powerful events in the
universe.  Named for Vanderbilt University astronomer Carl Seyfert,
who identified this type of galaxy in 1943, Seyferts have extremely
bright, compact cores containing clouds of gas moving at thousands of
miles per second.  Astronomers theorize that supermassive black holes
would be the only source capable of generating the immense power given
off by these objects.

     The HUT team also practiced acquiring quasar Q 1542+54 to
refine procedures for locating it efficiently in future observations.
Their success gives them an additional illumination source to use in
their search for intergalactic helium.  Yesterday, they successfully
locked onto the quasar 1700+64, which will likely remain their primary
target for the study.

     Several observations today examined the dust and gas from which
stars form. HUT selected a reflection nebula and the star which
illuminates it.  The star, AE-Aurigae, is a very hot, massive blue
star with surface temperatures from 50,000 to 70,000 degrees
Fahrenheit (28,000 to 40,000 Kelvin).  Light from the star illuminates
a cloud of dust surrounding it, creating a bright, colorful nebula.
Observation by the Astro telescopes may help determine the composition
of the dust and the sizes and shapes of the grains.

    The first observation of the day with WUPPE as the lead instrument
was HD 50138, viewed after Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld and
Payload Specialist Ron Parise took over science crew duties.  This
pre-main-sequence star is thought to be a young object, several times
more massive than our sun, that has just formed out of the
interstellar gas and dust.  Polarization measurements should help show
the shape of the nebula which surrounds the star and indicate where it
is coming from.  The study should help astronomers learn more about
the ways in which young stars form and how their birth clouds
eventually disperse.

     The WUPPE team also observed the star HD 197770, an interstellar
polarization probe.  The star serves much like a flashlight,
illuminating the vast and normally invisible clouds of dust and gas in
the space between stars.  The materials in these swirling clouds are,
in essence, the stuff of past and future stars.  Over eons, as stars
grow old, they kick out vast amounts of very hot material -- mostly
gas and dust -- into space.  These materials form into clouds, and
over many thousands of years the clouds collapse and form new stars.
By determining how much the ultraviolet light passing through the
clouds is polarized, or vibrating in a preferred direction rather than
randomly, WUPPE can provide further clues as to the nature of this
interstellar dust.

     Phi Persei, a hot, rapidly spinning star, was another subject of
study for WUPPE.  The star exhibits an unusual ultraviolet spectrum
that may be caused by a shell of gas around the star, possibly the
remains of a layer that has been spun off the star by its rapid
rotation.  This shell is thought to be in the form of a disk around
the equator of the star, and the scattering of starlight by the disk
polarizes the light.

     Celestial objects chosen for observation by the Ultraviolet
Imaging Telescope (UIT) included M31, the famous Andromeda galaxy in
our "local group," the cluster of galaxies which includes our own
Milky Way.  UIT researchers are conducting ultraviolet studies of the
structure of local group galaxies.  They will also examine the
photographs to study the physics of star formation contained in these
galaxies.

     The UIT team also selected various kinds of open and globular
star clusters, groups of stars formed from the same basic material at
the same time.  By comparing clusters of different ages and by looking
at different types of stars of the same age, astronomers can learn a
great deal about how each type of star changes in its lifetime.

  STS-999 Flight Day 5 Highlights:

 On Monday, March 6, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #09 
reports: (4/5:22 MET) The Astro-2 instruments spent the fourth
night of the mission viewing spiral, radio and other types of galaxies
as well as two types of binary star systems and some individual stars.
Also, the search for intergalactic helium continued as these
telescopes observed some of the most distant objects in the known
universe.  All the Astro-2 instruments, Spacelab, and the Instrument
Pointing System continue to perform well.

     "I think we've just set a world record for acquisition,"
commented Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld upon the swift targeting
of GD394, a white dwarf star in the Cygnus constellation, for the
Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT).  Earlier in the evening, an
edited StarView software package was uplinked to Space Shuttle
Endeavour.  This upgrade made what Alternate Payload Specialist 
Scott D. Vangen called, "a world of difference" in improving acquisition
times for the Astro-2 instruments.

     White dwarf stars, such as GD394, have magnetic fields stronger
than any that can be formed in laboratories on the earth.  They are
interesting for astronomers because they provide a laboratory for
studying the effects of strong magnetic fields on radiation.  One such
effect is that the light coming from these objects is highly
polarized, or is vibrating in a single direction.

     HUT scientists made further ultraviolet observations of the
bright quasar 1700+64 in the hope of discovering intergalactic helium.
Astronomers have been searching for evidence of intergalactic matter
left over from the formation of the universe for 30 years, and HUT was
originally designed with this goal in mind.  If ionized helium is
present in the space in front of a quasar, it should block out the
helium signature in HUT's far ultraviolet spectrum of the quasar--
thus establishing the existence of the ionized helium in the
intergalactic medium.

     Binary star systems, or pairs of mutually orbiting stars, again
became prime objects for observations selected by the HUT science
team.  Earlier in the evening, the HUTand Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo
Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) instruments looked at the symbiotic
binary Z Andromedae, located in the constellation Andromeda, as part
of the joint HUT/WUPPE investigator program.  Symbiotic stars are
binary systems in which the component stars have radically different
temperature ranges.  Guest Investigator Dr. Brian R.  Espey used HUT
and WUPPE to study the ultraviolet spectrum of Z Andromedae, in order
to improve measurements of the hotter star's temperature.

     The first ever ultraviolet observations of a very spectacular
binary star system, Nova Aquilae, were made early in the morning by
members of the WUPPE science team.  This system, consisting of a white
dwarf and a more normal star, became a bright nova, or a new explosive
object, just about a week ago.  This binary's explosions occurred due
to the interactions between the two stars.  Specifically, hot gas from
the normal star was pulled by gravity toward the white dwarf star's
surface.  As this material collected on the white dwarf's surface,
thermonuclear fusion took place, resulting in sudden and extremely
bright explosions.  As WUPPE co-investigator Chris Anderson described
this process, "a week ago it was a faint, unobtrusive star....then it
suddenly became thousands of times brighter."

     Another target observation for WUPPE scientists over night
included one of the most beautiful and colorful types of objects
known.  Reflection nebula NGC7023 is the brightest of its kind, in
which starlight is scattered by dust grains, producing brilliant
illumination in its cloud.  The WUPPE team is using its observations
of this nebula to further study the nature of dust grains in
interstellar space.

     Celestial objects chosen for observation by the Ultraviolet
Imaging Telescope (UIT) last night included the spiral galaxy NGC1097
and the radio galaxy Centaurus A.  Centaurus A is the nearest active
galaxy to our own and is one of the most prominent radio sources in
the Southern Hemisphere.  UIT scientists are examining it to study
star formation processes and stellar evolution there.  Radio galaxies
like Centaurus A emit radiation a million times stronger than galaxies
like ours.  Many questions surround radio galaxies, including those
concerning the possible relationships between these galaxies, quasars
and other energetic sources.

     UIT scientists also selected a cluster in the Small Magellanic
Cloud, an irregular galaxy, as a target.  Eighteen targets within the
local group of galaxies are candidates for observation on Astro-2, and
UIT is conducting ultraviolet studies on their structures.  These
scientists are also studying the physics of star formation in
supernova remnants contained in these galaxies.  While UIT used its
large field of view to image regions of the Small Magellanic Cloud,
HUT observed the supernova remnants within it.  HUT's large
spectrograph apertures permit observations of the remnants'
temperature, density and chemical composition.

 On Monday, March 6, 1995 at 5 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #09
reports: The STS-67 astronauts continue to operate the ASTRO-2 payload
and also worked with several microgravity experiments and talked with
students on the ground around the world through the Shuttle Amateur
Radio Experiment.  The Blue Team -- Payload Commander Tammy Jernigan,
Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence and Payload Specialist Sam Durrance
-- worked with the Commercial Materials Dispersion Apparatus
Instruments Technology Associates Experiments (CMIX) and checked on
the health of the Protein Crystal Growth biotechnology experiments.

   Lawrence also sent special greetings to the 19 men and women who
reported to the Johnson Space Center today representing the Astronaut
Class of 1995.  The Red Team -- Commander Steve Oswald, Pilot Bill
Gregory, Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld and Payload Specialist Ron
Parise -- went on duty about noon CST. As Grunsfeld and Parise
supported Astro-2 observations, Oswald coordinating a successful data
transfer that will help Middeck Active Control Experiment scientists
and engineers design large spacecraft. Gregory practiced for the end
of the 15 1/2 day mission on the PILOT landing simulator.

 On Monday, March 6, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #10 
reports:(4/17:22 MET) Two cataclysmic variables were on today's
menu of HUT targets.  These are systems of two stars, orbiting
extremely close together, where a white dwarf in the final stage of
its life cycle is paired with a more "normal" star somewhat similar to
our sun.  Occasionally their interactions create an outburst, or
sudden increase in energy emissions.  This interchange of matter
between stars, called accretion, is of great interest to the HUT and
Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment teams because it is
essential to many astrophysical situations such as the generation of
energy by quasars.

   This morning, the Astro telescopes observed VW Hydri, a cataclysmic
variable which undergoes outbursts of energy roughly every 20 days.
Though it was in a relatively low state of activity today, VW Hydri
will be monitored at intervals throughout the mission in hopes of
getting measurements in both an outburst and a non-outburst stage.
This afternoon, the teams viewed another variable, YZ Cancri, which is
located in the constellation Cancer.
	
   The telescopes made two observations of elliptical galaxy M 105 in
the constellation of Leo the Lion.  HUT studied the nature of stars
that put out an unexpected amount of ultraviolet light in this type of
galaxy.  HUT observations from Astro-1 indicate it comes from older,
low mass stars in a previously unknown stage of their evolution.

   Individual stars chosen for viewing by HUT ranged from massive
stars to compact white dwarfs.  Observations of the hot, massive
O-type star HD 94963, in the Southern Hemisphere constellation Carina,
will be added to an "atlas" of hot stars which may assist in stellar
population studies in galaxies.  The white sub-dwarf star,
Schweizer-Middleditch, was too close to the sun to be observed on
Astro-1, so Astro-2 astronomers were particularly pleased to observe
it today.  It lies behind the supernova remnant SN1006, which is the
debris of a star that exploded in 1006 A.D.  HUT scientists are
studying the star's spectrum for signs that its light is being
absorbed by iron in the supernova remnant.  Theories predict that a
large quantity of iron was ejected by the exploding star.

   Other observations in the HUT time block included observations in
two parts of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant, the leftover gas from
a stellar explosion some 20,000 year ago.  Seyfert galaxy Markarian 3
also was studied.  Such active galaxies have unusually bright centers
that resemble the more distant and more luminous quasars, and they are
believed to harbor massive black holes.

   The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) took images for an
ultraviolet census of "Selected Area 57," a portion of the sky that
has been intensively mapped at many other wavelengths.  "This is one
of two parts of the sky that astronomers all over the world have
agreed to study as closely as possible with every new technology that
comes along," said UIT Team Member Dr. Steve Maran.  UIT's wide-field
images should provide new information on faint objects that have not
yet been catalogued.  The UIT team will count galaxies down to faint
ultraviolet magnitudes and search for quasars, for galaxies that are
receding very quickly as the universe expands, and for distant
clusters of star-forming galaxies.  "If we see something we don't
understand, we can go back and look at images made in other
wavelengths to help define it," said UIT Principal Investigator Ted
Stecher.  "It's something like using the Rosetta stone to decipher
something that was previously unknown .

   UIT made images for two other science programs that could shed
light on the life cycles of stars.  The instrument photographed a
globular cluster known as NGC 6752.  Ultraviolet images will pick out
hot stars, at an unusual stage of their evolution, from the tightly
grouped assembly of old stars in the cluster.  UIT also viewed the
spiral galaxy NGC 3351.  The arms of spiral galaxies, which look
something like cosmic pinwheels, are made up of interstellar matter
and bright young stars.  The images should be useful to ultraviolet
astronomers in assessing the amount of star formation in progress
within the galaxies.

   The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) team
reported that one of last night's observations seems to confirm a
surprise finding from Astro-1.  According to WUPPE Co-Investigator
Dr. Geoff Clayton, the team again saw evidence of two types of
polarized "dust" in an interstellar cloud.  An Astro-1 observation had
indicated that some parts of the dust were like grains of sand, while
others were more like soot.  Ultraviolet radiation reflected from both
types of grains was polarized, or vibrating in a preferred direction,
indicating that both were lined up to the magnetic field.  But until
last night, no other observation had detected polarization in the
"soot."  "Last night, we saw a 'bump' in our polarization measurements
just where it was on Astro 1," said Clayton.  "We hope to see more
bumps on later observations.  If we find out this is real, we'll have
to go back to the drawing board and find out why these grains are
aligned as they are."

  STS-999 Flight Day 5 Highlights:

 On Tuesday, March 7, 1995 at 9 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #10 
reports: Earlier this morning, flight controllers did some
troubleshooting after a circuit breaker tripped, cutting power to a
portion of the Commercial Materials Dispersion Apparatus
Instrumentation Technology Associates Experiment (CMIX). When Lawrence
reset the circuit breaker on the middeck experiment and repowered the
heater controller, ground controllers noticed a short. Lawrence
subsequently was directed to turn off the heater, which maintained a
slightly higher temperature (20 degrees Centigrade vs. 4 degrees
Centigrade) for a portion of the Commercial Refrigerator Incubator
Module (CRIM).  three of the four experiment trays already had been
chemically fixed, and scientists won't know until after landing what
affect the heater loss will have on the samples. The CMIX/CRIM
experiments which require no heat, referred to as the "cold"
experiments, were unaffected by this event.

  Other activities performed by the Blue Team include a successful
alignment of the inertial measurement units which was performed by
Lawrence, and a 12-hour water dump using the flash evaporator system
was initiated this morning.

 On Tuesday, March 7, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #11 
reports: (5/5:22 MET) Crew members for the second Astro
Observatory (Astro-2) mission spent a busy fifth night in space,
working with three unique ultraviolet telescopes to help scientists on
Earth learn more about the universe.  Pilot William Gregory and
Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence maneuvered the Space Shuttle
Endeavour into different orbital positions as Payload Commander Tammy
Jernigan, Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld, and Payload Specialists
Ronald Parise and Sam Durrance aligned the telescopes nestled in
Endeavour's payload bay.

   From the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., the
science teams for the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), 
Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) and the 
Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) watched 
video from the HUT target acquisition camera onboard the Shuttle while 
they calibrated their instruments.  During this calibration period, in 
which HUT was pointed at a hot dwarf star in the constellation Auriga, 
scientists were able to check the data from their telescopes against 
previous observations.

   Three types of galaxies were observed by the Astro-2 telescopes
overnight to help scientists understand more about the formation of
stars in a galaxy system.  UIT used both of its onboard cameras to
make images of these galaxies in both the long and short wavelength
ranges.  A prime target for UIT was a globular cluster in the
constellation Carina.  This cluster is a massive spherical
concentration of stars containing up to several hundred thousand
stars.  This group of stars, which is extremely old, provides
astronomers with information about the latter part of the evolution of
stars.

   HUT and WUPPE observed a massive blue star called Psi Persei,  a
luminous star that spins rapidly and has outer layers that show
evidence of being peeled off by their stellar winds.  Previous
observations have suggested that these gas-laden winds are strongest
near the equator of these rapidly spinning stars.  Psi Persei has an
unusual ultraviolet spectrum that may be caused by a shell of gas
around the star, possibly the remains of the layer that has been
peeled off the star.  Scientists hope to accurately determine this
type of star's temperature (in order to analyze its atmospheric
emission), search for stellar winds and study absorption in the
interstellar medium, gas and dust between these stars.

   HUT and WUPPE also used a bright star much like a flashlight to
illuminate the gas and dust between stars.  This type of observation
will help scientists understand more about the chemical composition
and physical nature of the dust and gas between stars in our Milky Way
galaxy.  During the first Astro mission, astronomers learned that some
parts of our galaxy seem to have dust grains that resemble tiny hockey
pucks, while other parts seem to have a mixture of several sizes,
shapes and kinds of dust grains.  During Astro- 2, WUPPE Principal
Investigator Dr. Arthur Code hopes to determine whether different
conditions in some parts of the galaxy affect the formation of these
dust grains.

   The science teams for HUT, UIT and WUPPE observed video from the
HUT target acquisition camera as their instruments measured a
supernova remnant known as Cygnus Loop.  This supernova remnant, in
the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, is from a star that exploded many
years ago.  Both cameras of the UIT imaged the supernova remnant in
both the short ultraviolet and long ultraviolet ranges.  Guest
Investigator Dr. John Raymond is using HUT to obtain information about
shock waves the physics of collisionless shocks, the destruction
of grains in shocked gas, instabilities behind radiative shocks and
shock wave parameters.

   The Astro-2 ultraviolet telescopes also observed a Wolf-Rayet star,
thought to represent one of the final phases in the evolution of
massive O and B stars, which have between 100,000 and 1,000,000 times
the radiance of the sun, with temperatures up to 100 times greater.
One of the most unusual features of this type of star is that it has
almost no dark, or absorption, lines in its spectrum, only bright,
broad emission lines.

   The three Astro-2 ultraviolet telescopes also gathered information
about spiral galaxies during the night.  Guest Investigator Dr. Wendy
Freedman is using the UIT to image several large, face-on (top or
bottom view) galaxies in the far- and near-ultraviolet spectrum.
Freedman will combine UIT images gathered on both the Astro-1 and
Astro-2 missions to create a digital atlas of spiral galaxies.  Data
gathered about galaxies will also be used to study the similarities
between the types of galaxies viewed by the Hubble Space Telescope in
the visible and ultraviolet spectrums.

 On Tuesday, March 7, 1995 at 4 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #11
reports: Commander Oswald transferred data from the ground to the
orbiting Middeck Active Control Experiment via a high-speed
air-to-ground link as Gregory took care of orienting the shuttle for
its Astro-2 observations and performed housekeeping duties.Grunsfeld
and Parise each were scheduled for some off-duty time.

 On Tuesday, March 7, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #12 
reports: (5/17:22 MET) The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter
Experiment (WUPPE) and Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) viewed
Wolf-Rayet star HD 191765 twice this morning, completing a set of
observations begun last night.  "This is a fairly faint star, so we
are observing it four times to get all the information we need,"
explained Guest Investigator Dr. Regina Schulte-Ladbeck of the
University of Pittsburgh.  "We know this star's polarization varies
over time, so we put all the observations within a 12-hour period in
order to make them as nearly the same as possible."  Schulte-Ladbeck
noted that the first observation showed very high ultraviolet
polarization, and she feels confident that all four data sets will
yield the same result.

   Wolf-Rayet stars are thought to be a final life stage of very hot,
massive and luminous stars.  Powerful stellar winds cause matter to be
lost from them, making them less and less massive over time.
Schulte-Ladbeck is studying the mechanism of mass loss from the stars,
as mass is returned to the interstellar medium and new stars are
formed.  "Wolf-Rayets are depositing chemically processed matter
containing elements like carbon, nitrogen and oxygen for the next
generation of stars, so the new stars will be different," she
explained.

   This afternoon, WUPPE and HUT viewed EZ Canis Majoris, a much
brighter Wolf-Rayet which was observed for a briefer time during
Astro-1.  Ultraviolet polarization studies can help astronomers
determine the shape of the material being thrown out from the star, so
they can formulate a three- dimensional "map" of its structure.

   The WUPPE instrument also focused on the bright ultraviolet star HD
25090 to illuminate the interstellar medium for their polarization
study of the dust between stars.  Determining characteristics of
interstellar dust will help astronomers make allowances for the
existence of this obstructing matter when studying other objects and
to study its function as the source of new stars.

   All three telescope teams joined today's observations of two active
galaxies, thought to have supermassive black holes at their centers.
NGC 4151 is a Seyfert-1 type galaxy, which emits very bright
ultraviolet radiation.  NGC 1068 is a Seyfert-2, with ultraviolet
emissions that are not as strong.  "Astro-1 and Hubble Space Telescope
observations suggest there are opaque disks of cold gas around the
cores of these galaxies," said HUT team member Dr. Gerard Kriss.  "It
could be that there is no difference in the two Seyfert types, except
that we're viewing Seyfert-2's from the side with the gas disk
obscuring the hot core, and we see Seyfert-1's from the top with our
view of the hot gas unobstructed.  It's something like not being able
to see the hole in a donut when you look at the donut from the side."
Actually, Kriss said, NGC 4151 is in the "twilight zone" of Seyferts,
exhibiting unusual characteristics that suggest it might be tilted at
an intermediate angle to Earth.

   "NGC 4151 was five times as bright today as it was during Astro-1
observations in 1990, and there was a 10 percent increase in
brightness today over what we saw when we first observed it two days
ago," said Kriss.  The galaxy is known to be extremely variable, so
Astro-2 scientists hope to view it several more times to capture it at
various levels.  The multiple pointings should help Hopkins
astronomers learn more about the location, composition, density and
temperature of the gas.  Astro-1 observations of NGC 1068 revealed
unanticipated evidence that gas clouds were heated by shock waves
speeding from the galaxy's core.  Speaking on air-to-ground
communication loops from Spacelab Control, Kriss guided Payload
Specialist Sam Durrance in placing the telescope's view just outside
the core of NGC 1068, to look for the location of the shock-heated
gas.

   Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) team members will search
today's photographs of irregular galaxy NGC 4449 for young stars.
Active star formation is on-going in these arms, but not in the
symmetrical distribution more common in spiral galaxies.  The Hopkins
telescope focused on a supernova remnant near the galaxy's nucleus,
which has a rich store of atomic oxygen buried in a region of ionized
hydrogen.  While the images should reveal details of star formation
regions, spectral measurements of the supernova remnant should show
the composition and temperature of the ionized gas.

   UIT also photographed an open cluster of hot stars, called N4.
These diffuse clusters of stars are thought to be young systems, less
than 10 million years old.  UIT's wide field of view allows the camera
to make ultraviolet images of many stars at a time, so the images will
be used to identify hot binary stars pulling matter from one another,
planetary nebulae, X-ray sources, white dwarfs and other faint, hot
stars.

   Other observations today included two white dwarf stars, RE 0512
and GD153; the rapid-star formation galaxy NGC 2903; and another
portion of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant .

  STS-999 Flight Day 6 Highlights:

 On Wednesday, March 8, 1995 at 8 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #12 
reports: Astro-2 observations continue, including ultraviolet
views of spiral galaxies, the interstellar medium and a very luminous
and hot Wolf Rayet star.  A successful alignment of the inertial
measurement units was performed earlier this morning.  Excess water
will be dumped through the flash evaporator system today.  All
consumables are at the appropriate levels at this time in the
record-setting mission.

 On Wednesday, March 8, 1995 at 4 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #13
reports: Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence beamed down a video
postcard, narrating a tour of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and showing
what life aboard is like. The tour included views of the aft flight
deck, where astronomical observations are being conducted; the forward
flight deck, where shuttle maneuvers are orchestrated; and the
middeck, where experiments are studying biotechnology and flexible
space structures and the day-to-day activities such as food
preparation and personal hygiene are taken care of.

   Oswald worked again with the Middeck Active Control Experiment as
Gregory took care of orienting the shuttle for its Astro-2
observations and performed housekeeping duties.  Grunsfeld and Parise
directed the trio of Astro-2 telescopes toward its targets.  Gregory
and Grunsfeld also conducted an interview with KFWB Radio in Los
Angeles.

 On Wednesday, March 8, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #13 
reports: (6/5:22 MET) Although payload controllers at
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., were briefly
evacuated to a safe area during severe weather conditions last night,
voice communications with the Shuttle continued from Marshall,
allowing Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld to coordinate his
activities with science teams on the ground .
	
   Grunsfeld pointed the Astro-2 telescopes at a quasi-stellar object,
a prime target for the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), known as
HS1700+64.  Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Davidsen and the HUT
science team are searching for the helium left over from the
primordial fireball that many scientists believe marked the birth of
the universe some 10 to 20 billion years ago.  To find the ash
remnants of the explosive genesis of the universe, astronomers must
use the faint glow of extremely distant objects, such as this quasar,
located behind the intergalactic gas similar to using a distant
flashlight shining through a hazy mist.  HUT was aimed at this Astro-2
target, located many billions of light years away, to help scientists
search the gas for evidence that helium is absorbing the quasar's
ultraviolet light.

   Jernigan and Durrance aligned the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-
Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) telescope to look at two other stars
serving as background lights in the study of interstellar polarization
the orientation of ultraviolet light waves that travel through
the gas and dust between stars.  Interstellar polarization studies
enable scientists to make allowances for obscuring matter when they
study other objects in the universe as well as learn about the
obscuring matter itself.

   The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), WUPPE and HUT observed the
dying remains of a star a white dwarf.  This small object, which has
burned all its nuclear fuel, allowed WUPPE Principal Investigator
Dr. Arthur Code to observe the orientation of the ultraviolet light
traveling from the white dwarf to determine its geometry and density.
UIT imaged the white dwarf and the surrounding night sky to help
scientists search for more of these faint, hot stars.

   Gregory maneuvered Endeavour into position during two separate
orbits to allow all three Astro-2 ultraviolet telescopes to observe
spiral galaxies.  One of these spiral galaxies, known as NGC 2841,
contains remnants from Supernovae 1912 and 1957A.  The second spiral
galaxy, called NGC 2403, is a galaxy containing an old yellow star
population in its center region that merges into a disc with widely
scattered blue star-formation knots in its spiraling "arms."  Guest
Investigator Dr. Wendy Freedman will use UIT images of these two
galaxies in a digital atlas of spiral galaxies.

   Two other galaxies were observed by the ultraviolet telescopes
nestled in Endeavour's payload bay last night.  Guest Investigator
Dr. Claus Leitherer used HUT to observe a starburst galaxy and UIT
Principal Investigator Theodore Stecher conducted ultraviolet studies
of the structure of galaxies during an observation of elliptical
galaxy NGC 205.

   During four separate orbits, Jernigan and Durrance pointed the
three ultraviolet telescopes toward a rare type of star known as a
Wolf-Rayet star.  This type of star is thought to represent one of the
last phases in the life cycle of a massive star.  Wolf-Rayet stars
have powerful, eroding stellar winds.  These strong stellar winds have
hastened the evolution of the Wolf-Rayet stars, causing what may once
have been massive, luminous stars to become less and less massive
throughout their life.  "We are looking at the way energy coming out
of the star interacts with the atmosphere surrounding the star,"
explained WUPPE Co-Investigator Dr. Chris Anderson.

   Jernigan and Durrance also brought the Astro-2 telescopes into
alignment with two very hot, massive blue stars that emit large
amounts of ultraviolet radiation.  There is evidence that the outer
layers of these two rapidly spinning stars have been peeled off by
their stellar winds.  From the data gathered during Astro-2, HUT
scientists will strive to determine accurate temperatures of these
stars to learn more about their surrounding atmosphere, search for
stellar winds, and study absorption in the gas and dust between the
stars.

 On Wednesday, March 8, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status
Report #14 reports:(6/17:22 MET) The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope
(HUT) team led the observation of U Geminorum and SS Cygni, two dwarf
novas which were also observed during Astro-1.  A a dwarf nova, a
particular type of cataclysmic variable star, is actually made up of
two stars -- a "normal" star like our sun in extremely close orbit
with a dense white dwarf.  Interaction of the two creates periodic
outbursts.

   This morning, U Geminorum was at a different phase than it was
during Astro-1, when it had just gone through an outburst.  "After the
outburst, the white dwarf was very hot.  Today, the white dwarf was
much cooler, since it has been a long time since U Geminorum's last
outburst," said HUT Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Davidsen.

   Though SS Cygni was also at quiet stage today, it looked totally
different from more typical dwarf novas like U Geminorum.  "We could
tell SS Cygni is unusual based on our limited Astro-1 observation, but
today's much better data reinforces that," said Davidsen.  "Normally,
the white dwarf is obvious at the center of a cataclysmic variable,
but the spectrum from SS Cygni doesn't look like a white dwarf.
Instead of seeing light distributed across the spectrum the way we
would with a dense star, we see pronounced emission lines that suggest
something like a thin, transparent gas disk may surround the dwarf."
Davidsen said a disk of gas is created during a hot outburst, but it
generally dissipates when a variable is quiet.  HUT team members will
analyze today's data to help determine what makes SS Cygni apparently
unique.

   Members of the American Association of Variable Star Observers and
amateur astronomers all over the world are monitoring variable stars
in both hemispheres 24 hours a day.  They furnish regular reports via
electronic mail to the Astro-2 experiment teams, so exploding stars
can be added to the mission's observation schedule.

   HUT also observed V 1329 Cygni, a closely orbiting set of stars
with widely different temperatures called a symbiotic star system.
Dr. Brian Espey will use far-ultraviolet spectra obtained by the
Hopkins instrument to help determine the temperature of the hot star
component.
 
   The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) team chose two galaxies for
wide-field ultraviolet photography.  The first was M 49, the largest
elliptical galaxy in the Virgo cluster of galaxies.  At twice the size
of our Milky Way and ten times more mass, M 49 is one of the biggest
galaxies in the nearby universe.  "We are interested in trying to
trace the source in these galaxies of strong ultraviolet emissions,
which were first detected by Dr. Art Code [WUPPE principal
investigator] about 20 years ago," said UIT Co-Investigator Dr. Robert
O'Connell.  "We still don't understand where they are coming from."
Astro-1 observations of elliptical galaxies called into question some
previously popular theories about the source of the ultraviolet
radiation.

   UIT also obtained images of M 104, a spiral galaxy viewed edge-on
from Earth.  M 104 is sometimes called the Sombrero Galaxy because it
resembles the shape of a wide-brimmed hat.  "The regions where star
formation occurs are in the 'brim' of the hat, while the large bulge
-- the hat's 'crown' -- is made up of old stars, maybe even a black
hole," said UIT Guest Investigator Dr. Barry Madore, who operates what
may be the world's largest computerized electronic database of
galaxies for NASA at Caltech.  "Very old blue stars put out radiation
in a glowing halo that surrounds the hat shape," Madore added.  These
halos had not been imaged in the ultraviolet before Astro-1.  Studies
of 47 Tucanae, a globular cluster chosen by UIT for study, could shed
new light on stellar aging, since some stars within such closely
grouped associations seem to age differently than those found
elsewhere in our galaxy.

   The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) team
concentrated on very hot individual stars for their observation
choices today.  The instrument made spectral and polarimetric
measurements of Zeta Tauri and 28 Tauri, two Oe/Be stars in the
constellation Taurus which show bright hydrogen emission lines.  The
WUPPE team also selected supergiant stars P Cygni and AG Carinae.
Massive stars like these process helium and hydrogen into heavier
elements, and recycle material into the interstellar medium through
supernova explosions and stellar winds.
  
   Light from both types of stars is scattered by various processes in
their atmospheres, creating pronounced polarization.  However, WUPPE
observations of both star types during Astro-1 showed ultraviolet
polarization that was different from theoretical predictions.  Astro 2
observations will provide data against which to test refined theories.
The WUPPE team also completed a series of observations of Wolf-Rayet
star HD 96548, in another study of how stars deposit matter containing
processed elements like oxygen, nitrogen and carbon into the
interstellar medium.

  STS-999 Flight Day 7 Highlights:

 On Thursday, March 9, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #15 
reports: (7/5:22 MET) Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence
maneuvered the Space Shuttle Endeavour into a position where Payload
Commander Tammy Jernigan could align the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
(UIT) with M33, a nearby spiral galaxy in the constellation
Triangulum.  This galaxy, also called the Pinwheel galaxy, is
approximately 2.4 million light years away, but is bright enough to be
seen with binoculars at night.  "We are looking at this neighboring
spiral galaxy during Astro-2 to learn more about what goes on in that
galaxy and compare this information to what we already know about the
Milky Way," said Mission Scientist Dr. John Horack.

   Payload Specialist Ron Parise aligned the three onboard telescopes,
allowing UIT to make deep, wide-field images of a globular cluster of
stars known as NGC 362.  Globular clusters, massive spherical
concentrations of extremely old stars, are generally located outside
the plane of the galaxy and form a halo around the center.  These old
stars (possibly 10 billion years old) provide astronomers with
knowledge about the latter part of stellar evolution.

   Another type of star cluster, an open cluster, was imaged by UIT
last night.  An open star cluster is moderate in size, containing from
only a few dozen to a few hundred stars.  The age of the stars in an
open cluster can range from very young stars to older stars.  UIT
scientists are particularly interested in searching the heavens for
white dwarfs and other faint, hot stars to be used as backlighting to
study interstellar medium  the gas and dust between stars.  These
data will also provide highly accurate distance measurements and add
to astronomers' understanding of the chemical evolution of galaxies.

   The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)
telescope examined a supergiant, one of the largest, most radiant
stars in the sky.  The largest of these massive stars may measure
1,000 times the radius of the sun, but their enormous size is coupled
with their voracious consumption of nuclear fuel, leading supergiant
stars through speedy evolutions and spectacular deaths in the form of
stellar explosions called supernovae.
	
   The three Astro-2 ultraviolet telescopes were pointed at Jupiter's
moon Io, the most volcanically active body in our solar system.  A
recent volcanic eruption on that moon, just before the Astro-2 mission
began, ejected material onto Io's surface and into Io's atmosphere.
Dr. Paul Feldman, co-investigator for the Hopkins Ultraviolet
Telescope (HUT) observed Io last night to detect possible changes in
the number of sulfur and oxygen ions in Io's atmosphere.  As Io orbits
Jupiter once every 42 hours, some of this material is left behind,
forming a donut-shaped torus of sulfur and oxygen plasma around Io's
orbit.  This plasma torus will be observed in a separate Jupiter
pointing during Astro-2.
	
   Parise next pointed HUT at a starburst galaxy.  While most galaxies
appear to have developed their stars billions of years ago, some are
forming new stars at an enormous rate in a process known as a
starburst.  The massive, hot young stars emit strong ultraviolet
light, detectable by the telescopes onboard the Space Shuttle
Endeavour.

   Parise also aligned HUT to observe WX Hydri, a dwarf nova in a
binary star system.  The dwarf nova for this observation, WX Hydri,
undergoes irregularly spaced outbursts, approximately once every 10
days.  Scientists for HUT and WUPPE are interested in a process
associated with binary stars called accretion, where matter is
transferred from the smaller star to the larger star, causing the
interstellar gas to heat up and create bright ultraviolet emissions.

   HUT observed a very hot, massive blue star for Guest Investigator
Dr.  Nolan Walborn.  The star known as NGC 346 #3 is located in a
cluster of stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. This star is being
studied because of its strong stellar winds.  Data from this Astro-2
observation will be combined with observations made by the Hubble
Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's CASPEC
satellite, giving scientists a better understanding of this star,
which has a relatively brief life from 3 to 6 million years.
Several other stars in the NG 346 cluster will also be observed during
Astro-2.

 On Thursday, March 9, 1995 at 8 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #14 
reports: Looking out of the Shuttle's window, Wendy Lawrence
recorded volcanic activity on an island south of Burma and replayed
the brief video at about 5:45 a.m. CST. An alignment of the inertial
measurement units and a water dump through the flash evaporator system
were successfully performed this morning. Earlier this morning
Commander Stephen Oswald downlinked video of the Middeck Active
Control Experiment showing the effects of vibrations on spacecraft.
Through this experiment, researchers want to learn how to actively
control flexible structures in space.  Lawrence continued maneuvering
the orbiter while Jernigan and Sam Durrance continued the Astro-2
observations of the ultraviolet universe.

 On Thursday, March 9, 1995 at 5 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #15 
reports: Oswald worked with the Middeck Active Control Experiment
as Gregory pointed the shuttle so that the payload bay telescopes
could acquire their targets. Gregory also flew another simulation on
the PILOT landing trainer.  Grunsfeld and Parise directed the trio of
Astro-2 telescopes toward its targets.  Oswald, Grunsfeld and Gregory
were interviewed by Glen Farley of KING-TV in Seattle at 4:30 p.m.

 On Thursday, March 9, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #16 
reports: (7/17:22 MET) The Astro-2 observatory teamed up
with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope today for a close examination of
the planet Jupiter's "northern lights."  Though Jupiter is always in
daylight from Earth's perspective, ultraviolet photographs reveal a
glowing circle of charged particles in its upper atmosphere,
comparable to the beautiful aurora borealis visible in our far
northern latitudes.  Payload Specialist Sam Durrance, whose
astronomical specialty is Jupiter, carefully centered the Hopkins
Ultraviolet Telescope's (HUT) view on the northern region of the
planet.  The Astro telescopes made high-quality spectral and
polarimetric measurements, as well as wide-field, far- ultraviolet
images.  At the same time, Hubble's Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2
obtained high resolution, far-ultraviolet images of the auroral
region.  Dr. Paul Feldman, professor of physics at The Johns Hopkins
University, is the lead scientist for both the HUT and Hubble
observations.

   "We're very interested in whether the recent volcanic eruption on
Jupiter's moon Io produced more ions in the planet's magnetosphere and
led to a brighter aurora.  There is some debate as to whether
atmospheric ionization in the Jovian system is created primarily by
sunlight, as it is in Earth's atmosphere, or by volcanic activity on
Io," said Feldman.  "We obtained a very nice spectrum of molecular
hydrogen, the dominant component of Jupiter's upper atmosphere, which
we will analyze in correlation with the Hubble images.  By combining
the two, we will get a scientific product that is greater than the sum
of the two individual observations."

   Several of today's observations were for scientific programs
designed by Astro-2 guest investigators.  As mission planning began,
NASA invited astronomers to suggest experiments and observations that
could be conducted using one or more of the ultraviolet telescopes.  A
committee of astronomers reviewed the proposals and selected ten to be
included in the observation schedule.

    Dr. John Raymond, of the Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical
Observatory, used the Hopkins telescope to view two supernova
remnants, the Cygnus Loop and Vela F.  Both are relatively nearby,
with little foreground matter to block a clear view.  Raymond is
studying the products of supernova explosions -- outwardly moving
shock waves containing more energy than most galaxies radiate in a
year.  As the shock wave and debris from the explosion moves outward,
it heats the interstellar medium in its path and may trigger the
formation of new stars rich with the elements ejected in the
explosion.  Scattered long ago by these immense blasts, some of the
iron and other heavy elements helped form the world in which we live.

   Dr. Claus Leitherer, from the Space Telescope Science Institute,
took spectral measurements of the starburst galaxy 1050+40, one where
rapid star formation is taking place.  Leitherer's colleague,
Dr. Nolan Walborn, viewed O-type star SK-61837 in the Large Magellanic
Cloud, the nearest galaxy to our own Milky Way.  Walborn is studying O
stars, the hottest and most massive of the "normal" stars, in a
far-ultraviolet portion of the spectrum where they had not been
studies previously.  Both Leitherer and Walborn used the Hopkins
telescope for their investigations.

   Guest Investigator Dr. Gregory Bothun, of the University of Oregon,
used the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) to observe galaxy VCC
530, one of a recently recognized class of astronomical objects.
"They are called "low- surface-brightness" galaxies because they are
fainter than the dark night sky.  It has only been in recent years,
with improvements in telescopes, that we have been able to detect
them," said Dr. Barry Madore, another UIT guest investigator.  "The
most fascinating thing about this class of galaxies is that
ground-based observations show some of them are blue.  This could be
due to an absence of dust, or because they are made up of very
metal-poor stars, or maybe they are a new type we're not been aware of
before.  By viewing them in ultraviolet light, we can get a better
understanding of where they came from and what their properties are."

   UIT Principal Investigator Ted Stecher, of the Goddard Space Flight
Center, chose a cluster of galaxies known as Abell 1367 for
observation.  The galaxies in this cluster are primarily spirals, like
our own Milky Way.  Examining photographs of spiral-rich clusters
gives astronomers a better understanding of the spatial structure and
development of spiral galaxies.  UIT made images of Abell 1367 during
Astro 1 as well.  Stecher also selected NGC 6946, a rapid-
star-formation galaxy.  Ultraviolet radiation emphasizes the hot stars
and dust features associated with spiral arms and suppresses the cool
star background of the galactic bulge and underlying disc.

  Other observations today spanned the life cycle of stars, from
studies of the elderly Schweizer-Middleditch white dwarf star to
another search for intergalactic helium left over from the birth of
the universe.  The Astro telescopes are currently in the midst of a
nearly four-hour-long observation series to study the magnetic
cataclysmic variable binary star, AM Herculis.

  STS-999 Flight Day 8 Highlights:

 On Friday, March 10, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #17 
reports: (8/5:22 MET) Payload Specialist Ronald Parise pointed the
Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) at a binary star system called AM
Herculis.  This star system has a white dwarf and a normal low-mass
companion star, locked in a tight orbit around each other. As these
two stars move around each other, material from the low-mass star is
transferred to the white dwarf.  During this transfer, matter from the
companion star is heated as it spirals down onto the white dwarf,
generating a great deal of ultraviolet emission.  Because of these
outbursts (which may occur every couple of weeks to months or years),
binary star systems such as these are called cataclysmic variables.

   Several Astro-2 observations have been made of the AM Herculis
binary star system because of its unique characteristics.  In this
star system, the white dwarf star has a strong magnetic field.  As
material from the companion star is being transferred, the magnetic
field of the white dwarf causes the matter to assemble around its
magnetic poles.  HUT astronomers are using observations of cataclysmic
variables during this mission to learn more about how the magnetic
transfer of matter differs from the normal transfer of matter between
binary stars.  In another study of cataclysmic variables, HUT observed
EM Cygni, a dwarf nova which has no magnetic field.

   During the night portion of two separate orbits, Pilot William
Gregory maneuvered Endeavour into the proper orbital position for
Parise to align HUT for observations of quasar 1700+64.  HUT
scientists are using this quasar, located in the constellation Draco,
to search the vast region of space between distant galaxies for
evidence of helium left over from the primordial fireball that many
scientists believe marked the birth of the universe.  HUT Principal
Investigator Dr. Arthur Davidsen is using the light from this
extremely distant quasar as back lighting to shine through the
intergalactic medium.  Astronomers will use data from these Astro-2
observations to verify recent findings from the Hubble Space Telescope
as well as measure the density and ionization state of the
intergalactic helium.

  Parise also aligned HUT with two white dwarf stars for a study by
HUT Guest Investigator Dr. David Finley.  White dwarfs are one of the
extremely dense remnants of normal stars like the sun.  Those being
studied with HUT are young and extremely hot stars.  Finley is using
these HUT observations to get very accurate measurements of the
temperatures and surface gravity of white dwarf stars and determine
the properties of hydrogen under conditions of extreme temperature and
pressure.
	
   Another HUT investigation looked at a portion of a supernova
remnant called the Cygnus Loop.  Guest Investigator Dr. John Raymond
observed this "middle-aged" supernova remnant to study the physics of
collisionless shocks, the destruction of grains in shocked gas,
instabilities behind radiative shocks, and shock wave parameters.

   Parise aimed HUT at Jupiter's moon Io again last night.  A recent
volcanic eruption on Io ejected material into Io's atmosphere and onto
its surface.  HUT scientists are observing Io to detect changes in the
number of sulfur and oxygen ions in its atmosphere as a result of the
volcanic eruption.

   The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) imaged two globular
clusters last night a metal-poor cluster and a metal-rich
cluster.  The metal-poor globular cluster, known as NGC 2808, is made
up of relatively old stars.  The low metal content of these stars
indicates they were formed early in the life of the Milky Way galaxy.
Astronomers theorize that the metal-rich globular cluster, called 47
Tucanae, once belonged to a small metal-rich galaxy that was swallowed
up by the Milky Way in the remote past.  The UIT science team will use
images from these two types of globular clusters to search for hot
binaries that are transferring matter from the massive star to its
low-mass companion (accretion), hot white dwarfs, planetary nebulae,
and objects associated with X-ray sources in globular clusters.

   Payload Specialist Sam Durrance pointed the Wisconsin Ultraviolet
Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) telescope at a young stellar
object, still forming out of interstellar dust.  WUPPE astronomers
will analyze data about the polarization of the ultraviolet light in
this object to learn more about the star- formation processes taking
place there.

   WUPPE scientists also gathered data about hot stars with bright
emission lines last night.  Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Code
will use information about the orientation of light waves traveling
through the circumstellar disk of this star, called 48 Persei, to
understand more about the material around it.  Although this type of
star was first noted because of bright emission lines, over 100 years
of study have shown stars like these to be unusual in many other
respects.  Each spectral region studied provides astronomers with
information about a different part of the material around the star.

 On Friday, March 10, 1995 at 5 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #17
reports: Commander Steve Oswald conducted more work with the Middeck
Active Control Experiment, the MACE device, which is collecting
engineering data about the effect of vibrations on free-floating
structures.  Pilot Bill Gregory spent some time answering questions
sent by computer users on the Internet regarding Endeavour's astronomy
mission. Hundreds of thousands of questions have been placed on the
Internet since the start of the mission, prompting the astronauts to
respond when time permits.


 On Friday, March 10, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #18 
reports: (8/17:22 MET) The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT)
team selected the spiral galaxy M 31, better known as the Andromeda
galaxy, for observation.  The team is mapping groups of hot, bright
young stars, called OB associations, to learn more about star
formation within the galaxy.  Today's observation concentrated on the
northern portion of Andromeda, where its brightest OB associations are
located.  "We mapped the OB associations in the southern portion of M
31 during Astro 1, and our goal on Astro 2 is to complete the
picture," said UIT observing team member Barbara Pfarr.  At twice the
apparent size of our full moon, Andromeda is too big to be
photographed in one frame even with UIT's wide field of view.  M 31 is
roughly the same size as the Milky Way, and it is the nearest galaxy
of comparable size to our own.

   Astro scientists also observed NGC 4631, a large spiral galaxy
viewed edge-on.  The galaxy is forming stars out of material it is
pulling from the disk of a nearby, less massive elliptical galaxy, NGC
4656.  The bridge of material it is pulling from its smaller neighbor
forms a "tail" on NGC 4631.  NGC 4631 is of special interest to UIT
and Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope team members because huge loops and
filaments of gas have been thrown above and below the galaxy's central
region.  Astronomers believe this may be a bubble of gas produced by
supernova explosions, with very strong stellar winds blowing material
out of the galaxy.  HUT will use its far-ultraviolet spectrometer to
see if there is hotter gas present -- about 200,000 degrees Fahrenheit
(100,000 degrees Celsius) or more -- than has been detected in
observations by other telescopes.

   UIT's ultraviolet images of NGC 4631 will be used to determine how
stellar populations are distributed in the galaxy.  In addition, they
will compare photographs made in different wavelengths with various
camera filters to help determine the location of the hot gas, its
temperature profile, and its distance from the galactic disk.  "We
will try to deduce processes by which the gas is heated and cooled,
then drops back into the disk," said UIT team member Dr. Andrew
M. Smith, "It is theorized that there is a circulation pattern in the
gas which is quite large and quite turbulent."

   The Hercules Cluster of galaxies, also viewed by the Astro
telescopes today, furnishes another laboratory for the study of star
formation.  Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound
groupings in the universe.  Such clusters generally contain both
elliptical galaxies, which contain few new stars, and spiral galaxies,
which contain many young, ultraviolet-bright stars.  The Hercules
cluster has a greater than average number of spirals, which makes it a
good "hunting ground" for new star formation.

   UIT also led observations of two objects near the end of the
stellar life cycle, globular clusters NGC 6752 and M 13.  Stars within
these tightly bound clusters appear to be about five billion years
older than recent evidence suggests the universe itself may be --
something like the children being older than the parents.  Ultraviolet
studies of old stars within the clusters, near the very end of their
lives, could provide better tests for the ages and life cycles of
stars.

   This morning's study of dwarf nova WX Hydri is the second
observation of this system, whose decline from outburst is being
studied.  Though these periodic increases in brightness in WX Hydri
are not as bright as they are in some cataclysmic variable systems,
they occur fairly frequently -- about once every ten days.  WX Hydri
sometimes becomes over eight times brighter during an outburst,
increasing from a magnitude of about 14.8 during quiet periods to
around 11 at its brightest.  Information about this dwarf nova and
about 10 others is being provided to Astro scientists by amateur
astronomers around the world.

   The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) team
finished up one period as prime instrument early this morning, then
began another after this afternoon's orbiter water dump.  This
morning, WUPPE looked at reflection nebula NGC 7023.  The first prime
observation for WUPPE this afternoon was HD 207198, an interstellar
polarization probe.  Both were studies clouds of gas and material from
which astronomers can learn about the interstellar medium -- the
material from which stars and other objects are created.

   Other celestial objects viewed by the Astro telescopes today
included the brightest known Seyfert galaxy, NGC 4151; the Carina
dwarf galaxy; spiral galaxy NGC 4258; and NGC 752, an open star
cluster in the constellation Andromeda.

  STS-999 Flight Day 9 Highlights:

 On Saturday, March 11, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #19 
reports: (9/5:22 MET) Pilot William Gregory maneuvered the
Endeavour into a position where Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld and
Payload Specialist Ronald Parise could align the Wisconsin Ultraviolet
Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) with Nova Centauri 1995.  "The
WUPPE instrument has given us some spectacular spectral 'signatures'
of the elements (such as carbon, nitrogen or oxygen) that may be
present in the atmosphere following this very recent explosion," said
Guest Investigator Dr. Joni Johnson of the University of Wisconsin in
Madison.  "We'll be analyzing these data for quite some time, looking
for clues about the atmospheric composition, as well as the structure,
of this new nova."

    Nova Centauri 1995, which occurred just two weeks before the
launch of Astro-2, is the result of a Red Giant, transferring material
to a compact white dwarf companion star.  After a period of time
(perhaps 1,000 years or more) the material which accreted onto this
white dwarf reached extremely high temperatures and pressure, causing
a thermonuclear explosion.  WUPPE scientists were excited to be able
to observe this rare new nova so soon after its beginning.

    Parise also pointed the WUPPE telescope to a massive star that is
known to have bright emission lines.  Scientists are studying this
type of star to learn more about the composition of material
surrounding the star and how it is effected by stellar winds.

   WUPPE scientists also got another look at a rare Wolf-Rayet star
overnight.  Wolf-Rayet stars are thought to represent one of the final
phases in the evolution of massive stars.  This type of massive star
has powerful, eroding stellar winds carrying material outward.  The
interaction between the star's light and this material causes the
radiation to be polarized (oriented in one particular direction)
rather than in all different directions.  The polarization of light
coming from this Wolf-Rayet star can tell astronomers something about
the properties of the stellar winds around it.

   Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence maneuvered the orbiter to
different positions last night, allowing the WUPPE science team to
observe two galaxies in the Local Group.  Payload Commander Tammy
Jernigan operated the Instrument Pointing System, while Payload
Specialist Sam Durrance aimed the Astro-2 telescopes at the galaxies.
These two galaxies served as background lights for the study of
interstellar polarization, the direction that light travels between
stars.

    The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) imaged Holmberg 2 (a dwarf
galaxy) and a portion of the Andromeda spiral galaxy, M31, to help UIT
astronomers learn more about young stellar formations in galaxies.
One of the major science goals of the UIT is to map out our "twin
sister" galaxy, Andromeda (M31).  UIT also imaged a galaxy known as
NGC 3310, allowing investigators to study the design of spiral
galaxies and related structures, the nature of stellar populations,
and learn more about the material between stars associated with bars,
irregular, and anemic (poor in structure) galaxies.

   The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) observed two Seyfert 1
galaxies, Markarian 279 and NGC 3516.  These targets are active
galaxies with bright, compact nuclei, radiating in wavelength ranges
from infrared to X- ray.  HUT Project Scientist Dr. Gerard Kriss
arranged simultaneous X-ray observations of NGC 3516 using the
Japanese X-ray satellite ASCA (the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology
and Astrophysics).  Astro-2 and ASCA will revisit NGC 3516 for another
observation in two days.  UIT scientists observed these galaxies to
better understand how energy is transferred between the nuclei and
surrounding regions.

   Parise pointed HUT at a dwarf nova called Z Camelopardalis (Z CAM).
This stellar system has two stars locked in a tight orbit around each
other, with an orbital period of seven hours.  The companion star to Z
CAM is a low mass star which transfers matter onto Z CAM, causing
outbursts of ultraviolet emissions.

    Parise aligned HUT with a portion of the supernova remnant Cygnus
Loop D.  HUT scientists are studying a very bright, radiative filament
on the western edge of the Cygnus Loop, to learn more about the shock
waves generated during the death of a star.  Astronomers will analyze
these HUT data to determine temperatures, densities, and chemical
compositions of the gaseous filaments in the interstellar medium.

 On Saturday, March 11, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #20 
reports: ( 9/17:22 MET) On the tenth day of the STS-67
mission, Astro-2 scientists took their first look in the extreme
ultraviolet at what may be the most massive star in the known
universe.  They also focused their observations on spiral galaxies,
elliptical galaxies, and star clusters.

   HD 269810, a faint O-class star located in the Large Magellanic
Cloud, is about 190 times as massive as Earth's sun and qualifies as a
candidate for the most massive star ever observed.  Hopkins
Ultraviolet Telescope Guest Investigator Dr. Nolan R. Walborn, of the
Space Telescope Science Institute, used the HUT instrument to study
the star's unusually powerful stellar wind, or expanding outer layer,
like it has never been seen before.  Although this star probably
possesses the most mass a star can have, its stellar wind is depleting
this mass at an accelerated rate.  These observations provide crucial
information regarding the ultimate fate of the most massive stars.

   Dr. Walborn uses the HUT to study a sample of very hot O class
stars that are currently being observed in ultraviolet wavelengths of
1200 angstroms and above by the Hubble Space Telescope.  However, only
HUT is able to take its unprecedented measurements of these stars in
the 900-1200 angstrom wavelength range.  Commenting on what he called
the "beautiful" real-time data acquired from this observation,
Dr. Walborn said, "Now we have new information about a current
candidate for the most massive star known.  This was the star I wanted
to see, and now we have it."

   Earlier this morning, Payload Specialist Sam Durrance successfully
pointed the Astro telescopes at a somewhat challenging target, the
elliptical galaxy M60, to enable the science teams to obtain an
overall average spectrum of stars in its core.  A roughly
sphere-shaped galaxy with no clearly discernible internal structure,
M60 contains older, evolved stars and therefore represents a stable
stage of development.  Due to the faintness of this galaxy and the
absence of suitable guide stars for automatic targeting, manual
acquisition of this target was necessary.

   The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) also
observed the center of the M60 giant elliptical for polarized
radiation, or radiation preferentially oriented in one direction.  M60
is part of rich cluster of galaxies in the Virgo constellation,
containing about 2500 galaxies, and has a notable ultraviolet excess.

   The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) viewed NGC 6791, an unusual
open cluster located 14,000 light years away in the Lyra
constellation.  Open clusters are diffuse collections of 100 to 1,000
stars and are usually thought to be young systems, less than 10
million years old.  As one of the oldest known open clusters, NGC 6791
is three billion years older than our solar system.  Because UIT's
field of view is well matched to the sizes of these clusters, UIT
scientists are able to perform ultraviolet observations of many stars
at the same time.

   Another target for UIT, M101 in the Ursa Major constellation, was a
big spiral galaxy with arms that are wide and not very tightly wound.
A perfect example, or prototype, of spiral structure, it is the
highest priority spiral galaxy for UIT.  This galaxy contains bright
regions, such as Searle 2 (named for Dr.  Leonard Searle, the
astronomer who first discovered that region), of glowing hydrogen
ionized by hot blue stars.  UIT's ultraviolet imaging offers a
powerful new tool for the study of these regions, especially since it
emphasizes these hot stars.  Ultraviolet imaging also suppresses the
cool star background of the galaxy, allowing the young hot stars to
become more evident to astronomers studying the evolution of stars.

 On Saturday, March 11 1995 at 5 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #19 
reports: Gregory continued work with the Portable In-Flight
Landing Operations Trainer, PILOT, a laptop computer and hand
controller designed to simulate Shuttle landings. The device helps
Shuttle Commanders and Pilots to stay sharp during long duration
flights.  

  STS-999 Flight Day 10 Highlights:

 On Sunday, March 12, 1995 at 9:30 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #20
reports: Tammy Jernigan, Sam Durrance and Wendy Lawrence assisted
ground controllers in Alabama with fine-pointing of the three
telescopes.  For the first time, an observation was made of the Moon
as the Shuttle passed south of Hawaii on the 161st orbit of the
mission in an effort to gather ultraviolet data to help determine the
Moon's origin.  Several additional observations of moons and asteroids
will be made throughout the mission.

 On Sunday, March 12, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #21 
reports: (10/5:22 MET) Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence
maneuvered the orbiter into the required position, while Payload
Commander Tammy Jernigan aligned the Instrument Pointing System (IPS)
at the most difficult-to-acquire Astro-2 target, our moon.  Payload
Specialist Sam Durrance coordinated with science teams at Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to accurately point the
Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) at the moon.  "The entire moon has
never been imaged in the ultraviolet wavelengths, and we're looking
forward to seeing these data," said UIT Guest Investigator Dr. Chan Na
of Southwest Research Institute.  No similar data have been obtained
from either previous Shuttle missions, the Apollo program or
Clementine, and there are no operating or planned spacecraft capable
of imaging the whole moon at far ultraviolet wavelengths.

   UIT Guest Investigator Dr. Randy Gladstone, also of Southwest
Research Institute, is using UIT to make far ultraviolet maps in order
to learn more about the surface properties of the moon.  "This lunar
observation yielded 12 good, wide-field exposures of the moon," said
Gladstone.  The 70mm UIT film will developed and analyzed when
Endeavour returns to Earth.  UIT data gathered during Astro-2 will be
used to test the hypothesis that the far ultraviolet surface
brightness of an object without an atmosphere is a good indicator of
the length of time that the surface has been exposed to space.  These
data will also help scientists understand future ultraviolet images of
asteroids and other planetary satellites.

   The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)
telescope observed the moon along with UIT last night to determine how
well the WUPPE instrument could detect such features as dark seas or
bright craters on the moon.  Video from the WUPPE guide camera showed
the instrument could clearly distinguish these lunar surface features.
WUPPE scientists will now decide what observational goals they will
set for the next lunar observation, later in the mission.

   Durrance also pointed the WUPPE telescope to a cool, giant star
known as Alpha Orionis.  This star, which pulsates about every five
years, is approximately 14,000 times as radiant as our sun.  WUPPE
Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Code will analyze the data from this
Astro-2 observation to learn more about what effect these pulsations
have on the envelope of gas and dust surrounding Alpha Orionis.

   Pilot William Gregory moved Endeavour into position, Mission
Specialist John Grunsfeld aligned the IPS and Payload Specialist
Ronald Parise again pointed the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) at
the quasar known as 1700+64.  This quasar is the most distant object
the HUT team is observing during Astro-2.  HUT Principal Investigator
Dr. Arthur Davidsen, of Johns Hopkins University, is using the quasar
to provide background lighting in a search for helium in the
intergalactic medium (the gas between galaxies).  Helium is thought to
be left over from the "Big Bang," a primordial fireball that many
astronomers believe marked the birth of the universe about 10 to 20
billion years ago.

   The HUT telescope also observed a portion of the Cygnus Loop, a
"middle-aged" supernova remnant, over night.  Supernova remnants are
visible evidence of the final cycle of stellar evolution and important
sources of information for astronomers.  The Cygnus Loop is of
particular interest because it reveals details about the structure and
velocity of shock waves from the explosion of a dying star) as they
travel through the interstellar medium.  HUT's spectrographic data
will help scientists determine temperatures, densities and chemical
compositions of the gases located in the Cygnus Loop.

   HUT team members say their recent observations of the Vela
supernova remnant will allow scientists, for the first time, to
measure the same supernova remnant shockwave from two angles.  The
Vela observations seem to show the same filament of expanding gas from
the stellar explosion both edge on and face on.  "If we can compare
this filament in two positions, and verify that the models work for
this object, we can generalize that and compare it to other data we've
taken on the Cygnus Loop, the Vela supernova remnant and with other
telescopes," said HUT Co-investigator Dr. Bill Blair.  If successful,
the comparison should give researchers a much better understanding of
supernova remnants.

   Parise pointed WUPPE and HUT at a hot, massive star called 48
Librae, located in the constellation Libra.  This star spins rapidly
and has an outer layer that shows evidence of being peeled off by
stellar winds.  Previous observations of this star have suggested that
its stellar winds are strongest near the star's equator because of its
rapid rotation.  WUPPE scientists are examining the polarization of
this star's light to learn more about the scattering by electrons in
the disk surrounding it.  HUT scientists are trying to determine an
accurate temperature for this star, search for stellar winds, and
study absorption in the gas and dust between this star and nearby
stellar objects.
	
   Jernigan and Durrance aligned WUPPE and HUT to look at a supergiant
star, P Cygni.  This star, which increases in brightness like a nova,
has remained just visible to the naked eye for more than 100 years.
Scientists believe it is not a true nova, rather a variable star
surrounded by an expanding gaseous shell.  WUPPE scientists are
interested in P Cygni because it is ejecting mass at a colossal rate.
As P Cygni scatters light, it produces a pronounced polarization which
differs from theoretical models.  Data from these Astro-2 observations
will test refined theories and offer greater insight into the
mysterious variability of P Cygni.

   Throughout the next 12 hours, HUT, WUPPE and UIT will be used
to observe the planet Mars, look at young stellar populations in
galaxies, examine supernova remnants and study a reflection nebula in
a dark cloud.

 On Sunday, March 12, 1995 at 5 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #21
reports: Both Grunsfeld and Parise enjoyed a few hours off to relax
before heading into the final days of the mission, trading places on
the aft flight deck to operate the Instrument Pointing System and the
telescopes while the other took a break from research duties.  Gregory
used Endeavour's ham radio gear to talk to students at the J.J. Fray
Elementary School in Rustburg, Virginia and the crew continued to
respond to questions about their mission and spaceflight in general
placed on the Internet and faxed up to the Shuttle by flight
controllers.

 On Sunday, March 12, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #22 
reports: (10/17:22 MET) The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment 
(WUPPE) team selected Nova Circinus 1995 for observation this morning.  This 
is the third "new" nova -- a binary star system whose first outburst was 
observed very recently -- to be studied by the Astro-2 telescopes.  
"Though all three novae went into outburst since the first of the year, 
each is at a different stage in its history," said WUPPE Principal 
Investigator Dr. Arthur Code.  "By comparing their polarization, we hope to 
determine whether gas from novae outbursts is expelled in a spherical shape 
and then becomes more asymmetrical, and if so, how quickly the asymmetry
develops."  Light is polarized when it encounters an asymmetrically
shaped object, such as a flattened gas disk, which causes the light to
vibrate in preferred directions.

   "Every day brings new surprises," said HUT Co-investigator Dr. Bill
Blair, describing the success today of two supernova remnant
observations he admits were long-shots.  HUT led a study of the
supernova remnant Puppis A, the third supernova remnant Astro-2 has
observed in our Milky Way galaxy.  HUT and WUPPE examined a filament
of gas in the remnant's eastern region, apparently an interaction
between an interstellar cloud and the blast wave speeding from the
supernova explosion. "The International Ultraviolet Explorer barely
detected this remnant, so we didn't know what to expect," said Blair.
"We thought dust in the interstellar medium might block its
ultraviolet radiation, but we got a very nice spectrum which showed
strong nitrogen emissions."  Blair said it is possible the nitrogen
could have been thrown out by the massive star thousands of years
before it exploded as a supernova, and now the shock wave from the
blast is catching up with nitrogen expelled from the star.

   Supernova 1006, whose explosion in A.D. 1006 makes it a relatively
recent supernova, provided another first.  "The shock wave from this
supernova is moving very fast, plowing through interstellar space at
about 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) per second, as opposed to 150 to
200 kilometers per second in remnants like Puppis A," said Blair.  "We
thought its emissions might be too faint for us to observe, but we
felt it was important enough to attempt.  This gives us a new range of
velocity that has never been observed before in the ultraviolet."
Blair said the HUT spectrum may show the primary passage of the
supernova blast wave as it first encounters interstellar gas.
Comparison with optical observations could help astronomers understand
the basic physics of supernova shock fronts.

   The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope team led eight highly successful
observations in a row.  UIT captured the mission's first images of the
Whirlpool Galaxy (M 51) for Dr. Wendy Freedman's atlas of spiral
galaxies.  The Whirlpool Galaxy is the larger of two interacting
galaxies close enough together to disturb each other through
gravitational force.  M 51 is a large spiral galaxy with a mass 100
billion times that of our sun.  It is interacting with NGC 5195, a
much less massive galaxy.  Astronomers will study UIT photographs to
learn more about the formation of stars in that system, especially in
the bridge of matter that joins the two interacting galaxies.

   UIT also imaged CB_4, a cold cloud of interstellar gas and dust
which is sufficiently dense to obscure starlight from objects behind
it, while it reflects light from objects in front of it.  Though this
so-called dark cloud is relatively faint, Astro scientists were able
to obtain measurements to test models of dust in the interstellar
medium during a daylight observation.

   The imaging telescope also photographed a cluster of galaxies known
as the Coma Cluster.  UIT is examining the dense cluster, made up
primarily of elliptical galaxies, to obtain simultaneous information
on large samples of galaxies.  Astronomers will study the integrated
ultraviolet properties of these large samples to determine constraints
on the physics of cooling flows, as hot gas may condense into stars as
it rains down on a galaxy from the intra-cluster medium.  Scientists
also will look for the presence of dark matter, which does not emit
appreciable radiation.

   HUT and WUPPE observed NGC 4874, the central elliptical galaxy in
the Coma Cluster, to determine the ages of its stars.  Though
elliptical galaxies have comparatively few young stars, they emit more
ultraviolet radiation than would be expected from a population of old
stars.  Astro-1 observations of ellipticals suggest this radiation may
come from aging stars in a previously unknown stage of evolution.
Astro-2 is following up on the mystery.

   UIT photographed the open star cluster NGC 7789, and investigations
into new star formation included observations of elliptical galaxy NGC
185, irregular galaxy NGC 1313 and rapid star formation galaxy NGC
4631.  WUPPE led the mission's first observation of the Planet Mars,
and it observed interstellar polarization probe HD 217490 to add to
its ongoing study of the dust scattered throughout our Milky Way.
Dr. Brian Espey got excellent HUT and WUPPE data on the symbiotic star
system RR Telescopii for his study of closely orbiting stars with
radically different temperatures.

  STS-999 Flight Day 11 Highlights:
	
 On Monday, March 13, 1995 at 8 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #22
reports: Jernigan and Durrance were interviewed by C-SPAN earlier this
morning and discussed various aspects of the mission and space flight
in general with viewers.

 On Monday, March 13, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #23 
reports: ( 11/5:22 MET) Scientists with the Wisconsin Ultraviolet
Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) received surprising data from
their telescope last night as the second Astro Observatory (Astro-2)
mission continued aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.  Astronomers for
WUPPE were surprised to learn that the orientation (polarization) of
ultraviolet radiation coming from Mars is due to the planet's soil
composition, rather than elements in the Martian atmosphere.  "As we
looked at the data we received from our equipment onboard the Shuttle,
we saw similarities between the polarization of ultraviolet light
emitted by Mars and the polarization of ultraviolet light recorded
during an earlier lunar observation," explained WUPPE scientist
Dr. Geoff Fox.  "We'll continue to examine our data to learn more
about the composition of Martian soil."

   The WUPPE telescope also made observations to study the
polarization of ultraviolet light between stars in the Large
Magellanic Cloud for Guest Investigator Dr. Geoffrey Clayton.
Supergiant stars were used as background lighting, allowing WUPPE and
the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) to observe dust particles
between stars in this galaxy.  WUPPE and HUT science teams expect to
see differences in interstellar polarization between the Large
Magellanic Cloud and our own Milky Way galaxy because the chemical
elements found in the interstellar dust of these galaxies are so
different.  UIT will collect images of large fields in the Magellanic
Clouds during this mission to study stellar mass and age distributions
in the galaxy.

   HUT observed two Seyfert 1 galaxies in the constellation Ursa
Major, the Big Dipper, last night NGC 3516 and NGC 4151.  These
galaxies, named for astrophysicist Carl Seyfert, are believed to be
powered by supermassive black holes at their cores.  Spectra of these
galaxies show broad emission lines, indicating clouds of gas moving at
thousands of miles per second, with the energy emitted covering a
broad range of frequencies.  HUT scientists are studying variations in
the amount of ultraviolet light in these galaxies to learn more about
the processes that affect their spectra.  The Ultraviolet Imaging
Telescope (UIT) also observed these galaxies to help astronomers
understand more about the transfer of energy between the nuclei and
surrounding regions.

   Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld pointed HUT at Venus, the planet
that most resembles Earth in size, density and composition.  Planetary
probes have shown Venus to have an atmosphere largely composed of
carbon dioxide, extremely high surface temperatures, constant high
surface winds, and atmospheric pressure 90 times that of the Earth's.
HUT scientists are searching the atmosphere of Venus for traces of
argon, neon and helium.  The presence of these gases in Venus'
atmosphere are important indicators concerning the formation of the
solar system.  WUPPE observed Venus to learn more about the
polarization properties of the atmosphere surrounding the planet and
will use these data to understand more about the polarization of light
from Jupiter during an upcoming Astro-2 observation.

   Grunsfeld also aligned HUT to observe two pulsating white dwarf
stars last night.  These two stars, one located in the constellation
Hercules and another in Ursa Minor, are believed to be in a transitory
stage in the evolution of extremely hot white dwarfs.  Astronomers
will use information from Astro-2 observations such as this one to
learn more about the evolution of stars.

   Payload Commander Tammy Jernigan moved the Instrument Pointing
System into position for Payload Specialist Sam Durrance to point UIT
at celestial objects.  The first object, galaxy NGC 4214, was imaged
by UIT to be included in an atlas of spiral galaxies being created by
Guest Investigator Dr.  Wendy Freedman.  When completed, this atlas
will be available at no cost to the astronomy community through the
on-line electronic facilities of the NASA/Infrared Processing and
Analysis Center Extragalactic Database.

   A deep survey field, known as UGC 5675, was also imaged by UIT last
night.  UIT Principal Investigator Theodore Stecher will also use
these images to learn more about the population of distant non-thermal
sources, search for high redshift blue galaxies, determine galactic
luminosities for faint magnitudes, identify distant clusters of
star-forming galaxies, and obtain counts of galaxies down to faint
ultraviolet magnitudes to complement similar data in visual and other
spectral regions.  UIT Guest Investigator Dr. Gregory Bothun will use
images of this dark area of the sky to determine if UIT can detect
very faint galaxies against a dark background and search for a bright
near-ultraviolet component that may be responsible for extremely blue
optical colors that have been observed in other galaxies with very low
star-formation rates.

 On Monday, March 13, 1995 at 5 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #23
reports: Commander Steve Oswald spent most of the day working in the
middeck with the MACE experiment, the Middeck Active Control
Experiment, a device rigged with sensors to measure the degree of
vibration on free-floating structures. Engineering data from the
experiment will be used by technicians in the design of spacecraft of
the future.  Oswald and Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence, both
graduates of the Naval Academy, joined Payload Specialist Ron Parise
to discuss various aspects of the flight with Midshipmen gathered at
Annapolis. Lawrence is the first female graduate of the Naval
Academy. The in-flight interview also featured greetings to the crew
from former astronaut Charles Bolden, who currently serves as the
Deputy Commandant at Annapolis.

 On Monday, March 13, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #24 
reports: (11/17:22 MET) Astro-2 observations today ranged from
exotic star formations with odd- sounding names to our familiar
celestial neighbor, the Planet Venus.  Astronomers collected
additional information for a variety of investigations which have been
in progress throughout the mission.

   The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) team began their block of
observations with HH 2H, an object that could be a young star just
emerging from the "cocoon" of dust around it.  Called Herbig-Haro
objects, after the astronomers who discovered them in 1946, these
small bright concentrations of dust and gas are believed to be gas
jets thrown off during the final evolutionary stages of a protostar,
an object that has not collapsed sufficiently to begin the nuclear
reactions of a mature star.

   The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) led
an observation of another infant star, AB Aurigae.  Called a pre-main
sequence star, AB Aurigae is part of a class of young stars that are
still surrounded by the dust and gas clouds from which they are
formed.  These envelopes of matter around the objects are highly
active, as evidenced by variations of polarization seen in the optical
and infrared wavelengths.  WUPPE's ultraviolet observations should
help astronomers understand how dust is processed during star
formation and how material around young stars is distributed.

   All three telescopes viewed HUT's choice of Markarian 421, a
quasar- like active galaxy nucleus known as a BL Lacertae object.
When the first object of this type was identified, in the
constellation Lacerta, it was erroneously thought to be a variable
star.  In the 1960s, astronomers discovered that BL Lac objects are
not stars in our Milky Way, but the incredibly more powerful active
cores of distant galaxies.  Massive black holes are expected to be the
power sources for objects in this class.  While BL Lac objects produce
strong radiation in all observation wavelengths, their radiation is
primarily non-thermal -- created not by heat but by the glow of
electrons moving at almost the speed of light as they pass through a
magnetic field.  NASA's Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer satellite
discovered strong ultraviolet emission lines in Markarian 421,
suggesting it is an excellent subject for HUT's far-ultraviolet
studies.  Ground-based observations show a high level of polarization
in visible light, so WUPPE ultraviolet polarization measurements
should provide revealing insights into phenomena in the centers of
such galaxies.

   The observation of Venus this morning followed up on last night's
look at Earth's "twin" planet.  HUT studied the planet's forbidding
atmosphere -- 100 times denser than Earth's and as hot as 900 degrees
Fahrenheit (480 degrees Celsius) -- looking at upper atmosphere gases
that are excited by ultraviolet solar radiation.  Scientists will
compare Astro-2 observations of Venus and Mars to see how the two
planetary atmospheres, both primarily carbon dioxide but with
radically different densities, respond to ultraviolet radiation from
the sun.

   Two HUT observations today, NGC 6090 and 0833+652, were for Guest
Investigator Dr. Claus Leitherer's study of starburst galaxies.
Leitherer hopes to determine whether ionized hydrogen is being
released from the galaxies, which put out a great deal of ultraviolet
energy due to the rapid star formation taking place within them.
"This is another attempt to view the interstellar medium," explained
HUT Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Davidsen.  "We feel certain
there must be material left over from the formation of the universe,
just like there would be flour left on a cutting board after a loaf of
bread is kneaded.  But we have never been very successful in observing
this material."  Davidsen said the material might be highly ionized,
possibly by quasars or by starburst galaxies, making it difficult to
observe.  "If we can find out how much ionized hydrogen starburst
galaxies are putting out, we can get a good idea how much they emit
into interstellar space," Davidsen said.  "We may find that these
galaxies are an important source of ionized interstellar hydrogen, or
it may not be there at all.  Either way, we've helped answer an
intriguing question."

   HUT also led the Astro telescopes in an examination of the
planetary nebula nucleus K1-16.  Astronomers hope to better understand
the chemistry of the nebula and the evolutionary state of its central
star.  The nebula is unstable, going through periodic pulsations in
magnitude and color.  While the star's evolutionary status is not
clear, astronomers believe it could be on its way to becoming a white
dwarf.

   The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) team made more images of
star groupings to study the life cycles of stars.  They photographed
Abell 1795 and the Hercules Cluster, both clusters of galaxies where
star formation is taking place.  The Hercules Cluster is made up
primarily of spiral galaxies, whose pinwheel arms are stellar
nurseries.  Abell 1795 is a galaxy cluster which emits large
quantities of X-rays.  Gas in the cluster is cooling rapidly and could
be producing stars at the rate of 300 solar masses per year.  UIT's
observation of globular star cluster NGC 6752 focused on the opposite
end of stellar evolution.  The cluster is tight grouping of relatively
old stars whose low metal content indicates formation early in the
life of the Milky Way galaxy.  UIT also imaged elliptical galaxy M32.

   Late this afternoon, the WUPPE team devoted two observations to
planned calibrations of their instrument's sensitivity, with HD 161056
serving as a polarized standard and Beta Ursa Majoris as an
unpolarized standard.  

  STS-999 Flight Day 12 Highlights:

 On Tuesday, March 14, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #25 
reports: (12/5:22 MET) The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
(UIT) imaged NGC 2300, a cluster of galaxies that emits large
quantities of X-rays.  The study of clusters can provide a wealth of
information to astronomers.  Astro-2 data may provide UIT scientists
with a better understanding of the relationship between galaxies in a
cluster, the relationships between different levels of clusters and
star formation in clusters of galaxies.

   UIT also imaged a globular cluster, NGC 5272, that contains
relatively old stars.  The low metal content in this cluster of stars
indicates they were formed early in the life of the Milky Way galaxy.
The telescope, image intensifiers and cameras of the UIT instrument
are helping astronomers search for hot accreting binaries, hot white
dwarfs, planetary nebulae and objects associated with X-ray sources in
globular clusters.

   The study of young stellar populations in galaxies continued when
UIT was pointed at a galaxy field in the spiral galaxy Andromeda.
Approximately half of UIT's Astro-2 science program is devoted to the
study of star-forming galaxies such as this one.  A unique feature of
UIT is the identification of thousands of individual hot stars in
other galaxies that shine brightly in the ultraviolet.  These hot
stars may be observed later by the Hubble Space Telescope.  UIT imaged
another spiral galaxy, NGC 925, to provide images for Guest
Investigator Dr. Wendy Freedman's atlas of spiral galaxies.

   UIT and the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment
(WUPPE) were pointed at the moon again last night.  UIT imaged the
moon to help astronomers, such as Guest Investigator Dr. Randy
Gladstone, learn more about the surface properties of the moon.
Scientists will develop and analyze the UIT film after Endeavour
returns to Earth to understand future ultraviolet images of asteroids
and other planetary satellites.  WUPPE scientists observed the moon,
looking at the reflection of ultraviolet light for distinctive
differences in the maria (dark areas of the lunar surface) and
highlands (brighter surface features of the moon).

   The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) was used to observe a
radio- loud quasar in the far- and extreme-ultraviolet wavelengths.
HUT Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Davidsen will analyze the
Astro-2 data of this quasi- stellar object (located in the
constellation Eridanus) to understand more about the shape of its
ultraviolet spectrum.  Davidsen is looking for the region of the
ultraviolet spectrum where the hydrogen becomes opaque to radiation.
He will then compare what he learns from these observations with what
astronomers already know about the disk-shaped structure of stellar
matter surrounding a black hole, testing the theory that quasars are
powered by supermassive black holes.

   Hopkins scientists also observed the Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548 with
HUT last night.  The ultraviolet absorption lines in the HUT spectrum
will be used in conjunction with earlier X-ray observations to
determine the physical conditions in the hot absorbing gas.  The
absorbing gas in this Seyfert 1 galaxy may be the "reflecting medium"
that produces the polarized reflection spectrum seen in Seyfert 2
galaxies such as NGC 1068.

   Two elliptical galaxies were also observed by HUT last night.
Elliptical galaxies, which are spherical with no clearly defined
internal structure, contain older, more evolved stars.  Galaxy M87,
the central galaxy in the Virgo cluster, shows signs that star
formation may be occurring even though elliptical galaxies do not have
enough stellar matter for new star formation.  Another galaxy, known
as M60, is being observed during this mission because it has a very
high "ultraviolet upturn" an excess of ultraviolet output for an
old star population.  The UIT team is also very interested in these
targets UIT collected ultraviolet images of both galaxies in
support of several science programs.

   The WUPPE telescope was calibrated during an observation of Beta-
Ursa Majoris, a star that remains relatively constant in luminosity.
The surrounding area of this star is virtually dust free, giving WUPPE
scientists a good, clear target to determine if there have been any
changes in the performance of their telescope during this mission.

   HUT and WUPPE scientists used their ultraviolet telescopes to study
a binary star system known as a magnetic cataclysmic variable.  This
two-star system, called AM Herculis, has a white dwarf star that pulls
material away from its companion red star.  A strong magnetic field on
the white dwarf causes stellar material from the red star to
accumulate on the white star's poles.  Information about the dynamics
of mass transfer in a binary star system is important because
accretion, or the accumulation of gas, is essential to many
astrophysical situations, such as star and planetary formation.

 On Tuesday, March 14, 1995 at 8 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report
#24 reports: Endeavour's crew was notified of the Mir-18 launch
shortly after the Soyuz capsule reached orbit.  STS-67 Commander Steve
Oswald responded, "Okay, great news, thank you very much....Bet you
Normie's glad to be there."  Oswald and Thagard flew together on
Discovery's STS-42 mission in January 1992.

 On Tuesday, March 14, 1995 at 5 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #25 
reports: Before turning in for an eight-hour sleep period, the
Blue team astronauts, Wendy Lawrence, Tammy Jernigan and Sam Durrance,
joined their colleagues in the traditional in-flight Crew News
Conference, answering questions from correspondents on everything from
astronomical research to the symbolism of the launching of
U.S. astronaut Norm Thagard on a Russian rocket this morning to begin
an historic three-month stay on the Mir Space Station.

   Earlier today, NASA's Mission Management Team decided NOT to extend
Endeavour's flight beyond Friday's planned landing at the Kennedy
Space Center. Citing the wealth of scientific data already acquired by
the Shuttle's telescopes and the conservative approach being taken in
slowly building up the length of time for orbiting crews, Mission
Operations Representative Jeff Bantle said the decision to end
Endeavour's journey on time was made after weighing numerous factors
regarding a mission extension, both pro and con.

 On Tuesday, March 14, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #26 
reports: CST (12/17:22 MET) The majority of today's Astro-2
observations were of objects in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.
These irregular galaxies, in the southern hemisphere sky, are
satellites of our Milky Way galaxy.  They are gravitationally bound
with some 20 others that make up our "local group" of galaxies.

   The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope made the mission's first
photographs of Supernova 1987A.  The February 1987 stellar explosion,
in the Large Magellanic Cloud, was the first supernova explosion
visible to the naked eye since 1604 A.D., six years before the first
telescope was used to view the heavens.  The supernova reached its
brightest visible radiation level in May 1987, but scientists believe
an intense flash of ultraviolet light occurred almost at the moment of
the explosion, when the outer layers of the supernova lifted away.
UIT is attempting to photograph the light "echo," or reflection of
this maximum ultraviolet output, as it bounces off sheets of dust in
space.  UIT's Astro 1 photographs of Supernova 1987A indicate the echo
is extremely faint, so UIT is making a number of long exposures to
capture it.  "If we see the same phenomenon in several exposures, we
can not only add them together to improve the quality of our
observations; the repeated evidence assures us that what we are seeing
is real," said UIT team member Dr. Steve Maran.

   An observation of N 79 looked at young star formation in a Large
Magellanic Cloud star grouping called an "OB Association."  Unlike
other types of star clusters, there is insufficient gravitational
attraction to hold these groups of very young, hot O and B stars
together.  Though formed at the same time, the stars are rapidly
drifting apart.

   Other targets in UIT's eight-observation time block included two
Large Magellanic Cloud open star clusters which are surrounded by
emission rings.  N 51, in the southern constellation Dorado, is an
unusual nebula which appears to be a bubble blown in the interstellar
gas by wind from a very massive hot star.  The imaging telescope made
limited observations of the area during Astro-1, and the science team
hopes to collect more extensive data on this flight.  N 70, in the
southern constellation Hydra, is a region of space where the gas has
been ionized.  The UIT team will compare images made at two different
wavelengths to help determine what caused the ionization.

   UIT also photographed the bar structure of the Large Magellanic
Cloud, an elongated linear accumulation of stars in the galaxy, as
part of its study of young star populations.  Dr. John Raymond, of the
Smithsonian Institution's Astrophysical Observatory, added to his
study of interstellar shock waves with an observation of LMC 519, an
old supernova remnant also in the Large Magellanic Cloud.  Dr. Nolan
R. Walborn got another observation of a hot O star in the open star
cluster NGC 346, for his study of the strong stellar winds produced by
these stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

   This evening, Dr. Geoffrey Clayton began another block of
observations for his study of interstellar dust in the Large
Magellanic Cloud.  Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment
(WUPPE) Principal Investigator Dr.  Arthur Code is researching the
sizes and chemical compositions of dust grains in the Milky Way's
interstellar medium.  Clayton is extending the sample to the nearby
Large Magellanic Cloud, where interstellar chemical abundances are
known to be quite different from those in our own galaxy.

   All three telescopes participated in the third Astro-2 observation
of 47 Tucanae, a metal-rich globular cluster in the southern Milky
Way.  The Astro telescopes also viewed Centaurus A, the nearest active
galaxy to our own and one of the most prominent radio sources in the
southern hemisphere.

   Earlier today, the WUPPE science team selected NGC 3132, a young
planetary nebula in the constellation Vela, for observation.  A
planetary nebula is a bright cloud ejected by the star at its center,
believed to be a phase in the life of certain lower mass stars when
they expel large amounts of material in to space.  Sometimes called
the "Eight-Burst" Nebula because its elliptical disk looks like
several oval rings superimposed and tilted at different angles, NGC
3132 is one the few planetary nebulae known to have a binary star
system at its center.  WUPPE scientists will examine the light
scattered by dust in the cloud to study the nature of the dust, which
will eventually return to the interstellar medium.  Ultraviolet
Imaging Telescope images will test ionization and temperature levels
within the nebula.  The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) took
spectra of the cloud itself and of its binary star.

   The WUPPE team led the Astro telescopes back to the Nova Aquilae
1995.  This was the mission's third look at the nova whose outburst,
or sudden increase in brightness, was first observed some three weeks
before the STS-67 launch.  Successive polarization measurements during
Astro-2 will allow WUPPE scientists to look for changes in the shape
of the gas disk and for possible clumps ejected during the outburst.

   The HUT team chose the quasar 1211+143 as one of their targets
today.  Team members will study the shape of the quasar's ultraviolet
spectrum to learn more about the intrinsic qualities of the quasar
itself.  First discovered in the 1960s, quasars are the most luminous
and energetic, as well as the most distant, objects in the universe.
They are believed to be powered by supermassive black holes at their
centers.  HUT observations will test the current understanding of
accretion disks, or disks of matter being whirlpooled and sucked into
the black hole.

   WUPPE's Large Magellanic Cloud dust study will continue into this
evening.  UIT has chosen two galaxies and an open star cluster for
imaging tonight.  The HUT team will lead observations of two quasars,
several individual stars, a planetary nebula, an elliptical galaxy,
and another supernova remnant.

  STS-999 Flight Day 13 Highlights:

 On Wednesday, March 15, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #27 
reports: (13/5:22 MET) STS-67 Pilot William Gregory placed
the orbiter in the proper attitudes for Mission Specialist John
Grunsfeld to align the Instrument Pointing System (IPS) to selected
areas in the sky.  Payload Specialist Ronald Parise then aligned the
Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter (WUPPE), the Hopkins
Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) and the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
(UIT), allowing them to lock on to four targets in the Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
	
   Guest Investigator Dr. Geoffrey Clayton of the University of
Colorado in Boulder will use WUPPE and HUT information about
ultraviolet polarization in the LMC, comparing these data to what
scientists already know about the nature of dust particles in the
interstellar medium of our own galaxy.  Using selected stars of the
LMC to back light the dust and gas, Clayton can examine the behavior
of the many dust grains found there.  In contrast, a bright, blue-hot
supergiant star, Sanduleak 67-90, was the target of one of last
night's four LMC observations to let astronomers study the dynamics of
ultraviolet emissions in an area where there was not a substantial
amount of stellar dust.  UIT takes images of all fields in the
Magellanic Clouds, and obtained excellent data in parallel with the
observations being made by HUT and WUPPE.

  In other observations over night, HUT scientists got another chance
to learn more about a halo of ultra-hot gases they believe surrounds
our Milky Way galaxy.  HUT was pointed at the brightest quasar in the
sky, 3C273, which is approximately two billion light years away.  As
ultraviolet light from the quasar shines through interstellar space,
it is absorbed by the halo that surrounds our galaxy.  Scientists at
the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., will analyze these
data in the months following Astro-2, testing theories about whether
the halo actually exists, and if so, how hot the gas is and how far it
extends.

   Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence maneuvered the orbiter into
position, Payload Commander Tammy Jernigan aligned the IPS and Payload
Specialist Sam Durrance pointed HUT to again record ultraviolet
spectrographic data of the "young" supernova remnant, SN 1006.  This
supernova remnant, first documented by Chinese astronomers in the year
1006, is giving HUT Guest Investigator Dr. John Raymond an opportunity
to study the physics of shock waves before they hit a substantial
amount of interstellar material (where the gas begins to cool off and
slow down).  Traveling at approximately 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers)
per second, the shock waves from this young supernova remnant are
providing new insights into the characteristics of interstellar medium
surrounding the site of a supernova explosion.

   Parise also pointed HUT at elliptical galaxies called M60 and M89
last night.  These galaxies are part of the Virgo cluster, a huge
cluster of galaxies centered some 50 million light years from Earth.
Astronomers have long been interested in these galaxies because of
their very high ultraviolet upturn an excessive output of
ultraviolet light for an old star population.  HUT and UIT scientists
are interested in these targets to learn more about what is causing
the excessive amount of ultraviolet light. The theory was that younger
star- formation galaxies produce more ultraviolet emissions than older
star populations.  However, observations of galaxies such as M60 and
M89 are leading scientists to believe that some of these old low mass
star populations may be in a more advanced stage of evolution.  UIT is
making a two- dimensional map of the ultraviolet upturn across the
face of the M60 galaxy.  Near the end of the M89 observation, WUPPE's
dedicated experiment computer experienced a brief software problem.
Durrance recycled power to the computer, which reset the software.
The WUPPE science team has reactivated their telescope from the ground
and resumed operations.

   Durrance and Parise pointed HUT at several other celestial objects
during the night.  HUT observed planetary nebula NGC 1360, a cloud of
gas and matter surrounding a star.  The nebula glows because the
ultraviolet radiation from the star ionizes the material in the
surrounding cloud, which, in turn, emits energy at a variety of
wavelengths.  HUT scientists will study the ultraviolet light from the
nebula and the star to learn more about the material making up the
nebula and the star at its core.
	
   UIT imaged NGC 752, an open star cluster, searching for hot
accreting binaries, planetary nebulae and X-ray sources.  UIT
scientists are particularly interested in probing star clusters such
as this for white dwarfs and other faint, hot stars.
	
 On Wednesday, March 15, 1995 at 8 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #26 
reports: Mission Specialist Tammy Jernigan, a native of
Chattanooga, talked with a Tennessee radio station along with crew
mate Wendy Lawrence.  The discussion centered around the astronomical
observations being conducted throughout the mission as well as
homeowner- type questions posed to Jernigan, making her third flight
aboard the Shuttle.  Along with Sam Durrance, the three astronauts
have been choreographing orbiter maneuvers with instrument pointing to
precisely aim the ASTRO observator at the desired celestial targets
throughout the universe.

  Before Lawrence turns in, she will join Oswald and Gregory in the
routine, pre-entry checkout of Endeavour's flight control system,
which includes verifying the health of the moveable surfaces on the
wings and tail used during the atmospheric reentry portion of landing.
One of the Endeavour's three hydraulic systems is required during
portions of the checkout scheduled to begin about 12:30 this
afternoon.

 On Wednesday, March 15, 1995 at 4:30 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #27 
reports: Endeavour's astronauts successfully tested their
ship's flight control systems today in preparation for Friday's
scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center.  Commander Steve
Oswald, Pilot Bill Gregory and Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence fired
up one of Endeavour's auxiliary power units to test the Shuttle's
aerosurfaces as part of the routine prelanding tests to insure that
Endeavour is ship-shape for its high-speed return to Earth.

  After a short break in data-gathering to accommodate the flight
control system test, Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld and Payload
Specialist Ron Parise resumed ultraviolet studies of distant celestial
objects with the trio of ASTRO-2 telescopes housed in the Shuttle's
cargo bay.  Oswald, Gregory, Grunsfeld and Parise also answered
questions from the Cable News Network as their marathon mission nears
its end. The astronauts will begin to deactivate and stow equipment
Thursday in preparation for their planned homecoming Friday.

 On Wednesday, March 15, 1995 at 6 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #28 
reports:(13/17:22 MET) Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT)
Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Davidsen said, "For all of us, the
on has been like a dream come true.  We've observed more
than 100 different HUT targets and had more than 300 pointings with
two days to go, and we're absolutely thrilled."

   "We're really pleased down here," Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
(UIT) Principal Investigator Ted Stecher told the crew, quipping, "We
never thought we'd run out of film, but now we're a little worried
about it."  He said all the team's top priorities have been achieved,
with just a few secondary programs left to complete, and they have
photographed essentially all the objects they had originally planned
to view.

   Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)
Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Code agreed.  "We're delighted with
mission results, too.  Reality has exceeded our fondest dreams, and
we've obtained about three times as much data as we did on Astro-1 --
a whole treasure chest of goodies."

   Observations continued to stack up at a steady pace throughout the
day, interrupted only by a planned hour of orbiter flight control
system tests in preparation for Friday's landing.

   All three telescopes took ultraviolet data during a UIT-led
observation of M 87, a spectacular elliptical galaxy in the
constellation Virgo.  "We can get information for several of our
favorite scientific programs by viewing M 87," said UIT team member
Dr. Susan Neff.  The galaxy is thought to have grown to its large size
by swallowing up smaller neighbors in the Virgo galaxy cluster.  A
1994 Hubble Space Telescope observation of M 87 revealed a
spiral-shaped disk of gas swirling at an immense speed in the galaxy's
center, providing the first almost irrefutable evidence that
supermassive black holes do exist in the universe.  A fantastic jet of
material, moving at a large fraction of the speed of light, emanates
from the area of the black hole.  UIT's wide field of view allows it
to photograph some 12 to 14 Virgo cluster galaxies in the same frame.
UIT team members are studying the stellar populations in M 87 and also
the jet.  HUT concentrated on the gas around the black hole to find
out how it is stimulated by radiation from heated matter falling
toward hole.  WUPPE made ultraviolet polarization measurements to
determine the structure of the swirling gas.

   The Astro-2 telescopes made the mission's first observation of
Omega Centauri , a giant globular star cluster which is easily visible
in the southern hemisphere to the naked eye. Its brightness is due
both to its relative closeness to Earth (17,000 light years) and its
immense size (150 light years across and containing more than one
million stars).  UIT's single five-minute exposure of this star
cluster during Astro-1 was the first ever made in ultraviolet
wavelengths.  Even that brief snapshot showed an unusual number of
stars that did not conform to the theoretical pattern of stellar
evolution.  Also, since all stars in a globular cluster are formed at
the same time, it should follow that they would have the same chemical
composition, but this is not the case in Omega Centauri.  The longer
Astro-2 observation of this globular cluster, along with those of
other clusters throughout the mission, should give scientists more
clues for solving this stellar mystery.

   The telescopes also observed M 92, a much smaller globular cluster,
and UIT made photographs of the galaxies NGC 1512 and NGC 1365 for Dr.
Wendy Freedman's spiral galaxy atlas.

   The majority of WUPPE-led observations today centered on the team's
study of interstellar dust in our Milky Way and in its neighboring
galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud.  A lower abundance of heavy
elements in the Large Magellanic Cloud causes both the stars and dust
to be different from those in our galaxy, and that dissimilarity is
most apparent in the ultraviolet.  Comparison of the two galaxies
could help astronomers define the extent of differences and perhaps
determine the reasons for them.

   The WUPPE team also viewed the star 51 Ophiuchi, for their study of
luminous spinning "Be" stars, whose outer layers show evidence of
being pulled off by their stellar winds.  Dr. Regina Schulte-Ladbeck
used WUPPE to observe HD 51285, a star between the Earth and one of
the Wolf-Rayet stars she has been studying.  She will use results to
subtract polarization in the interstellar medium from her Wolf-Rayet
measurements.

   The HUT team revisited their prime calibration target, the white
dwarf star HZ 43, for end-of-mission instrument verification.  They
also viewed another portion of the Vela supernova remnant and made the
mission's first observation of LSV 46-21, a white dwarf at the center
of a planetary nebula.  The active galaxy NGC 4151 was observed for
the sixth time during this flight.

   Another study of Jupiter, along with its moons Io and Callisto,
begins this evening's observations.  Tonight's viewing choices are
fairly evenly divided among the three ultraviolet telescope teams,
with targets again ranging from tiny white dwarf stars to surveys of
large sky areas.

  STS-999 Flight Day 14 Highlights:

 On Thursday, March 16, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #29 
reports: (14/5:22 MET) All three ultraviolet telescopes
were pointed at Jupiter and one of its 16 moons, Io, as the second
Astro Observatory (Astro-2) mission continued aboard the Space Shuttle
Endeavour last night.

   The science team for the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT)
recorded spectrographic data about ultraviolet emissions around Io.
HUT scientists are especially interested in how Jupiter's
magnetosphere and torus, a donut-shaped field of ionized particles
that follows Io's path around Jupiter, are affected by the reddish
particles erupting from Io's volcanoes.

   Astronomers with the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter
Experiment (WUPPE) team observed Jupiter to learn more about the
polarization properties of its atmosphere.  The Ultraviolet Imaging
Telescope (UIT) scientists used one of their two wide-field cameras to
produce ultraviolet images of Jupiter to determine the planet's
reflectiveness and cloud structure and provide ultraviolet images of
the entire Jovian system.

   HUT continued the search for helium in the intergalactic regions of
space last night, using a quasar (Q 1542+54) as background lighting.
HUT scientists are looking for evidence of helium left over from the
primordial fireball that many believe marked the birth of the
universe.  Helium reveals itself as a telltale absorption line at a
certain extreme ultraviolet wavelength.  Principal Investigator Arthur
Davidsen will use HUT's spectrograph to search for the characteristic
signature created when helium atoms absorb light from this quasar.

   HUT was also used to observe Markarian 66, a starburst galaxy, for
Guest Investigator Dr. Claus Leitherer of the Space Telescope Science
Institute in Baltimore, Md.  Leitherer is using HUT's capacity to
detect short ultraviolet wavelengths to study the ionized radiation
that escapes from bright, relatively nearby starburst galaxies.  HUT
observations of the far ultraviolet radiation from these galaxies will
be used to determine whether they could play an important role in
ionizing the intergalactic medium.

   UIT imaged NGC 6318, a relatively old cluster of stars.  This
cluster of stars has a low metal content, indicating it was formed
early in the life of the Milky Way galaxy.  Since most hot stars emit
radiation in the ultraviolet and cooler stars emit in the lower
ultraviolet range, the UIT instrument is especially suited for making
images of these types of stars.  Astronomers will analyze these
Astro-2 images, looking for hot accreting binaries, hot white dwarfs,
planetary nebula, and objects associated with X-ray sources.

   As UIT made images of a faint dwarf galaxy known as IC 2574, HUT
made spectrographic recordings and WUPPE observed the orientation of
the ultraviolet energy being emitted from the galaxy.  Because this
type of galaxy emits such a faint trace of ultraviolet radiation, very
little is known about the formation of young stars there.  Astro-2
scientists are using their sensitive telescopes to explore this
little-known region of the universe.

   UIT was also pointed at the Baades Window, an unusually clear line
of sight towards the center of our Milky Way galaxy.  Because of the
relative lack of obscuring dust in this field of view, the UIT can
image stars and star clusters in the central bulge of the galaxy,
where stars are thought to be both ancient and rich in metals.

   WUPPE and HUT observed a reflection nebula near the star Eta
Carinae.  Reflection nebulae are colorful objects.  Starlight is
scattered by dust grains, producing brilliant illumination in the
cloud.  WUPPE scientists will analyze their data to learn more about
the chemical composition, size, distribution and shape of the dust
grains.  HUT astronomers observed the nucleus and surrounding region
of this nebula, searching for effects of the shock wave that was
created when the nova exploded.

   WUPPE and HUT also jointly observed AO Cassiopeia, a close binary
star system (two stars so close that they not only orbit each other
but actually influence each other's evolution).  Astronomers have
observed that the more evolved a star is (in a close binary system),
the less massive the star becomes because it donates material to the
younger star.  WUPPE scientists are studying the effects of the
dust-scattering processes in the distorted atmospheres of close
binaries.  These data will provide new information about the evolution
of these stars and help astronomers learn more about the mass transfer
of material between close binaries.

   The WUPPE telescope also gathered data about the orientation of
dust grains between the stars last night.  To help scientists study
this polarization of interstellar medium, WUPPE was pointed at three
stars, which served as background lights to illuminate the
interstellar dust.  As astronomers learn more about the polarization
of interstellar medium, they can make allowances for this intervening
matter when studying other celestial objects.

   During the next 12 hours, the Astro-2 ultraviolet telescopes will
be pointed at the moon, two Seyfert galaxies, and single and multiple
star systems to study electron scattering.  These astronomical
instruments will also observe interstellar medium and young star
populations in a galaxy.

 On Thursday, March 16, 1995 at 8 a.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #28 
reports: Astronomical observations using the ASTRO-2 payload will
continue throughout Friday morning aboard Endeavour prior to the
transition from payload operations to the landing timeline, four hours
before the deorbit ignition of the Shuttle's orbital maneuvering
system engines.

 On Thursday, March 16, 1995 at 5 p.m. CST, STS-67 MCC Status Report #29 
reports: Commander Steve Oswald spoke with U.S. Astronaut Norm
Thagard aboard the Mir Space Station in a radio hookup between the two
spacecraft. Former shuttle crewmates, Oswald and Thagard exchanged
congratulations on their respective flights and discussed the symbolic
importance of Thagard's venture as the first American to visit the
Russian space outpost. Thagard and his Russian crewmates arrived at
Mir early this morning to begin three months of scientific and medical
research.

  The Red team astronauts -- Oswald, Pilot Bill Gregory, Mission
Specialist John Grunsfeld and Payload Specialist Ron Parise --
conducted final data takes with the ASTRO telescopes and reviewed
entry messages prepared by the flight controllers who will guide
Endeavour to its scheduled landing tomorrow afternoon at the Kennedy
Space Center.  Tonight, at 6:33 PM CST, Endeavour will eclipse the
existing endurance record for a Shuttle, breaking the mark of 14 days,
17 hours and 55 minutes in orbit. That record was set by Columbia last
year, on the STS-65 mission.

 On Thursday, March 16, 1995 at 6 a.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #30 
reports: (14/17:22 MET) The Wisconsin Ultraviolet
Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) team wrapped up two studies about
how stars put material back into the interstellar medium, which in
turn can build new stars.  They viewed the star Xi Persei to complete
their study of Oe/Be stars.  These rapidly spinning, hot massive stars
are found primarily in the arms of spiral galaxies.  The WUPPE
observations should help determine the shapes of the gas shells spun
off or otherwise ejected by the stars.

   WUPPE also observed Vela X-1, in the instrument's final
polarization measurement of an X-ray binary star.  It is believed that
such systems are made up of a neutron star, which may be a pulsar, in
an eccentric orbit around a more normal primary star.  At the closest
approach, the neutron star gravitationally strips material off the
primary star.  The material then flows along the neutron star's
magnetic field and crashes onto the surface to produce a sudden burst
of X-rays.  However, much of the stripped material forms a disk around
the neutron star instead of settling onto star's surface.  The WUPPE
measurements will help define the geometry and the extent of this
circumstellar disk, as well as details about the densities and
temperatures within the shells.

   Observations of the stars HD 147888 and Omicron Scorpii were for
WUPPE's study of the dust between stars in our galaxy.  The WUPPE team
will use their findings about variations in the distribution, shapes
and composition of this dust to understand more about this raw
material for star formation.  A better knowledge of how the dust
polarizes light also will allow astronomers to subtract the
interference of intervening dust from star observations.

   The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) team selected two white
dwarf stars for today's observation block.  Today's study of the white
dwarf RE 1738 completed Guest Investigator Dr. David Finley's data set
for his calibration of temperature scales for these small but massive
remains of dying stars.  The mission's fourth observation of 1424+535
added more information about a transitory evolutionary stage of white
dwarf stars with powerful magnetic fields.  These pulsating white
dwarfs undergo periodic changes in brightness, but the causes of the
pulsations and the chemical composition of the stars' visible surfaces
is not well understood.

   Guest Investigator Dr. Brian Espey got one last look at a symbiotic
star system with a joint HUT and WUPPE observation of AG Draconis.
The study essentially aims to "take the temperature" of the hot,
sub-dwarf component of this two-star group, whose co-orbiting members
vary widely in temperature.  Espey also hopes to determine the size
and density of the cool material that lies in the atmosphere of the
red giant component.

   The HUT team made their last quasar observation when they viewed PG
1351, one that is relatively closer than those HUT is using in its
search for intergalactic helium.  HUT is examining "nearby" quasars to
understand better the processes taking place within these extremely
energetic objects.  Team members will also search their data to test
the widely accepted theory that quasars are powered by supermassive
black holes.

   The majority of targets chosen by the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
(UIT) team today were galaxies.  They selected two active galaxies
thought to have black holes at their centers. NGC 1566 is a faint,
nearby Seyfert I type galaxy, the type which radiates most strongly in
ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths and has high gas velocities and
spectra resembling a quasar.  NGC 3226-7 is a Seyfert II galaxy, with
a lower gas velocity than the Type 1 Seyferts.  UIT astronomers are
studying both types to learn more about how energy is transferred
between the galaxies' centers and surrounding regions.

   UIT photographed two final spiral galaxies, NGC 5236 and M 63, for
the atlas of these stunning celestial objects being assembled during
this mission -- most of which had never before been photographed in
the ultraviolet.  Astronomers can use the shapes of nearby spiral
galaxies revealed in ultraviolet light to classify more distant
galaxies photographed in visible light by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The radiation from those far-away galaxies was actually emitted in
ultraviolet wavelengths, then stretched by the expansion of the
universe into the visible band by the time it reached Earth's
vicinity.

   UIT concluded its Astro-2 album of galaxies by imaging a section of
one of our nearest neighboring galaxies, the Small Magellanic Cloud.
The UIT team led the Astro observatory in viewing NGC 362, the last
globular cluster observation of the flight.  The camera's ultraviolet
images pick out hot stars from the clutter of cooler objects.  UIT
also imaged the Thumbprint Nebula in the mission's only look at that
particular dark cloud of gas and dust in interstellar space.

   This morning's planned observation of Earth's moon was
unsuccessful, due to problems with the tricky maneuver of tracking
such a nearby object with a system designed for stellar pointing.
However, the Astro-2 instruments successfully viewed the moon twice
before in the mission.

 On Thursday, March 16, 1995 at 11 p.m. CST, STS-67 Payload Status Report #31 
reports: (14/22:22 MET)  Science activities for the second Astro
observatory (Astro-2) ended shortly after 11 p.m. CST, with all three
telescopes taking ultraviolet observations of the full moon.
More than 200 separate successful observations were made of over
100 celestial objects selected by HUT investigators.  All of these
observations made up 21 separate investigations, 14 carried out by
permanent members of the HUT team and 7 by guest investigators who
joined the HUT team for Astro-2.

   One of Davidsen's primary objectives for HUT during Astro-2 was to
use two high redshift quasars as background lighting to search for
helium in the space between galaxies.  Detecting helium in
intergalactic space and determining how much of it is there could
provide answers to the questions about the "Big Bang" that is believed
to have marked the beginning of our universe.  "I can tell you that we
succeeded in getting data needed to answer these questions.  It's too
early to say what the answer might be, but it will be very exciting to
see these data," explained Davidsen.

   In other Astro-2 observations, HUT made simultaneous ultraviolet
measurements with the Hubble Space Telescope of Jupiter's aurora, or
northern lights, and its effect on the planet.  HUT scientists also
studied the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Io and the torus
(donut-shaped cloud) of ionized gas it produces around Jupiter.  HUT
astronomers say observations such as this will lead to a greater
understanding of the processes taking place on that planet.

   Ultraviolet emissions from the atmospheres of Venus and Mars were
also targets of observations for HUT during this mission.  Detailed
analysis may reveal the presence of several interesting elements,
including argon, neon and helium.

   HUT also observed less distant quasars and Seyfert galaxies to
study details of their ultraviolet radiation.  The studies could help
confirm the theory that these objects contain supermassive black
holes, which swallow matter from their surroundings.  The observations
could shed light on the dynamics of the gas clouds in the nuclei, or
cores, of such active galaxies.

   HUT observed other celestial objects during the course of this
mission.  The telescope was used to study extragalactic objects,
numerous cataclysmic variable stars, symbiotic star systems, hot white
dwarf stars and several starburst galaxies to help astronomers learn
more about the life of stars, from "birth" to the violent explosion
marking the "death" of a star.

   Another of Astro-2's instruments, the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
(UIT), which was developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md., took wide-field, electronically intensified images of
objects in ultraviolet light on film.  UIT astronomer Dr. Steve Maran
explained, "Our data say we got good exposures on all the science
programs and high-priority targets.  Now, we'll just have to wait
until we get our film developed."  Maran was referring to the many
images UIT made, including about 2 dozen large spiral galaxies to be
used in an ultraviolet atlas of such objects.  The atlas will be a
fundamental resource for astronomers for many years to come.

   UIT made for the first time ultraviolet images of the entire moon.
These images will be studied to investigate the ultraviolet
reflectivity of the moon, and to correlate changes in reflectivity
with known changes in lunar surface features.  This information can
then be used to compare with the reflectivity of other planetary
satellites in our solar system to understand more about their surfaces
and the physical processes that have been responsible for their
evolution.

   Scientists for UIT will spend the next several years analyzing
their data from Astro-2.  Some of these data include a census of rare,
hot stars (with temperatures over 15,000 degrees Kelvin) in about a
dozen star clusters.  These hot stars, very much more evolved than the
sun, have shed their outer layers so that scientists can see almost
down to their nuclear-burning cores.

   UIT imaged more than 20 elliptical galaxies during this mission.
The photographs will allow astronomers to map the still-mysterious
"ultraviolet excess" - an excessive amount of ultraviolet radiation
coming from galaxies containing large quantities of old stars, which
normally have low ultraviolet emissions.  This astronomical oddity was
first noticed by WUPPE Principal Investigator Dr. Arthur Code over 25
years ago.  In order to better understand this excess emission, UIT
scientists will combine their images of clusters and galaxies with
spectra from HUT and data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

   Observations of some of the faintest galaxies in the universe were
photographed by UIT during Astro-2.  Astronomers took advantage of the
very dark sky background, using UIT to photograph very low surface
brightness galaxies.  "This could be the UIT observation with most
potential for surprises," said UIT team member Dr. Steve Maran.
"Ground-based observations show an unexpected blue glow.  Our
ultraviolet images may tell us where it's coming from."

   UIT also made images during over 140 co-observations of objects
selected by HUT and WUPPE.  In one series of co-observations, UIT got
about 13,000 seconds of ultraviolet imaging of the quasar field
1700+64.  UIT scientists will examine these images, searching for
unusual ultraviolet-emitting objects over a vast range of distances in
the universe.

   "We obtained a treasure chest of data for all our major programs,
"said Dr.  Arthur Code, principal investigator for WUPPE.
Polarization measurements reveal the orientation of light as it is
influenced by astronomical media.  "Until this mission, the only set
of ultraviolet spectropolarimetry in existence was that obtained
during Astro-1 and a few objects obtained by the Hubble Space
Telescope.  Astro-2 observations greatly expand the data base and
present a number of tantalizing results," Code said.  He summarized
the theme of WUPPE observations as "making stars" - how material is
put back into the interstellar medium and builds new stars.

   WUPPE sampled some 20 different views for its study of the
interstellar medium, using hot stars located behind interstellar dust
clouds to measure the properties of the grains.  In addition to
examining the dust clouds in the Milky Way, WUPPE studied the
interstellar medium in a nearby galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

   The instrument also got excellent observations of four Wolf- Rayet
stars, an evolutionary stage of massive stars in which strong stellar
winds eject shells of material into the interstellar medium.

   WUPPE's study of rapidly rotating "Be" stars, which yield matter
back into space in the form of an equatorial disk and polar wind,
covered a large range of spectral temperatures and rotation rates
within the Be class.  Results will be used to test the validity of new
theories about the nature of these stars, developed after surprising
results from Astro-1.

   The Wisconsin instrument gathered more information on interstellar
dust with their observation of a reflection nebula, binaries, massive
supergiant stars, and active galaxies.  The WUPPE team benefited from
"unexpected serendipity," Code said, when observations of three
recently exploding novae gave the team a unique opportunity to follow
the early history of these stellar explosions.  "The results imply
that the shell of gas ejected from the nova is asymmetrical from very
near the beginning of the outburst," Code reported.

   A major factor in the mission's success was the smooth operation of
the Instrument Pointing System (IPS), which pointed the three
telescopes at their targets, and the Image Motion Compensation System
(IMCS), which sensed small disturbances and compensated for them in
two of the telescopes.  "The IPS and IMCS for the first time achieved
operational capacity," Astro-2 Mission Manager Robert Jayroe said.
"In my estimation, the IMCS and IPS teams have done everything but
make the hardware stand up and do a tap dance."

<end of mission>