Headline News
Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters

  Monday, December 10, 1990	Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Monday, December 10, 1990

Shuttle mission controllers at Johnson Space Center this morning 
decided to bring Columbia and its seven-person crew home 
tonight.  The decision to come home tonight was based on expected 
unacceptable weather conditions at Edwards Air Force Base for both 
tomorrow and Wednesday.  The planned deorbit maneuver for tonight's 
landing will occur at 11:49 pm EST with an Edwards landing on 
runway 22 at 12:51 am tomorrow morning.  The Astro-1 crew will spend 
the rest of today stowing equipment, including the payload bay 
telescopes, closing the payload bay doors, testing the ship's reentry 
systems and, in general, making Columbia shipshape for its return.

Astro-1 science activities this morning consisted of joint observations 
with all three ultraviolet telescopes of several galaxies and the nearby 
supergiant star Betelgeuse.  The X-ray telescope observed several 
binary star systems and a quasar during this same period.  The science 
management team, at this morning's press briefing, remarked that they 
consider the mission a complete success and expect the science gain 
from this Spacelab flight will exceed all previous such science flights.

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The final report of the Advisory Committee on the Future of the 
U.S. Space Program was presented at a press briefing at 11:00 
am today from the Old Executive Office Building.  Participants 
included Vice President Dan Quayle, Committee Chairma7hNorman R. 
Augustine, and NASA Administrator Adm. Richard Truly.

Admiral Truly later today will conduct a press briefing at the NASA 
Headquarters Auditorium to discuss the report 's findings.  The briefing 
will be held at 4:00 pm and will be carried live on NASA Select TV.

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The Honorable James Baker, Secretary of State, and the Honorable 
Eduard A. Schevardnadze, Foreign Minister of the U.S.S.R, will both 
be guests in JSC's Mission Control Center this afternoon at 1:50 
pm EST.  The two are in Houston for a continuation of the arms 
limitation discussions and will take this opportunity to observe shuttle 
mission activities.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  

The Galileo Earth 1 gravitational assist flyby went according to 
the plan this past Saturday.  At 3:35 pm EST, Galileo flew above the 
Earth, over the Carribean Basin, at an altitude of 597 miles.  Columbia 
was on an ascending pass moving toward the coast of Chile at that 
time.  Galileo gained about 10,800 miles per hour during the flyby.  A 
photo of the moon and another of Australia were downlinked within 
minutes of the flyby.  More than 2,000 images of the Earth and moon 
are scheduled to be downlinked in the next few days.

                                            

Hubble Space Telescope flight controllers at the Goddard Space 
Flight Center expected to have the spacecraft up and running 
again today following the failure of a redundant gyro which placed 
Hubble in a safe mode since last Monday.  A preliminary assessment as 
to the cause indicates a possible wiring fault in the electronics 
associated with gyro 6.  Following the entry into safe mode, Goddard 
controllers brought one of the two backup gyros on line and began gyro 
alignment activities and a routine recovery from safe mode.  An inquiry 
board has been established to define the most probably cause of the 
failure and to provide recommendations concerning further actions.  
The gyro is one of many on-orbit replaceable units and planning to 
permit the inclusion of a replacement pair of gyros on the 1993 orbital 
servicing mission.
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Kennedy Space Center named a new director of engineering 
development last week.  Walter T. Murphy, formerly deputy, was 
named director last Wednesday.  He replaces Jim Phillips, who recently 
retired.  Murphy has previously been manager of all shuttle 
engineering activities at Vandenberg and prior to that was manager for 
the checkout of shuttle avionics.
	
Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select 
TV.  All times are Eastern.  **indicates a live program.

Monday, 12/10/90
	11:00 am	**Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program 
			report from Old Executive Office Building.
	1:00 pm		**Galileo status report from JPL.
	4:00 pm		**Adm. Truly press briefing on Augustine committee 
			report from NASA Headquarters.

	Throughout the day mission coverage of the STS-35 Astro-1 
	mission will continue live, except as noted above.
	

All events and times may change without notice.  This report is filed 
daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST.  It is a service of 
Internal Communications Branch at NASA Headquarters.  Contact:  
CREDMOND on NASAmail or at 202/453-8425.
	

NASA Select TV:  Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees 
West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz.