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

  Tuesday, February 19, 1991     Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Tuesday, February 19, 1991

The terminal countdown demonstration test for the STS-39 mission is 
currently underway at the Kennedy Space Center.  The crew arrived at 10:45 
am yesterday.  The TCDT countdown concludes at 11:00 am tomorrow.  Vice 
President Quayle will arrive at KSC at 10:20 am tomorrow.  He will be 
escorted to the Launch Control Complex where he will address the launch 
team and the flight crew inside Discovery.  The Vice President will be shown 
the Orbiter Processing Facility and will then speak to KSC emplyees at the 
Turning Basin.  Following that address, Mr. Quayle will hold a short press 
conference at 12:10.  These activities will be shown live on NASA Select TV.  
The Vice President will leave KSC at 12:45 pm to head for Eglin Air Force 
Base, Ft. Walton Beach, to address family members of Desert Storm troops.

KSC technicians have found cracks on three of four hinges on Discovery's 
umbilical doors.  These doors, one for the liquid oxygen side and one for the 
liquid hydrogen side, each have two hinges.  KSC managers are currently 
assessing the problem, along with JSC flight management officials.  The team 
is looking at all options including flying as is.  One option is to install hinge 
doublers on top of the cracked hinges to strengthen them.  Another option is 
to roll back to the VAB, destack and demate, and with Discovery in the 
horizontal position, replacing the hinges.  (The hinges can be replaced while 
the orbiter is in the vertical position, but the doors cannot be cycled to test 
the hinge.)  Because of propellant loading activities planned for Thursday, 
management expects to have this situation assessed and a plan developed by 
tomorrow night.

Atlantis' orbital maneuvering system pods were tested successfully for 
electrical redundancy this weekend.  That orbiter's next mission is the 
Gamma Ray Observatory deployment flight scheduled for April.

Columbia's Astro-1 payload was removed Friday.  Other work on Columbia 
includes tests of its radar altimeter, main engine pump torque checks, and 
tests of the hydraulic system.  Columbia is scheduled for its next flight on the 
STS-40 Space Life Sciences Spacelab mission in May.

Mobile launcher platform 3 will be moved into VAB high bay 3 next week to 
begin preparations for stacking for the STS-40 Columbia SLS-1 mission.

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Goddard Space Flight Center officials have terminated the contract held by 
the General Electric Company, Astro-Space Division, Princeton, N. J., for the 
design, development and test of the Attached Payload Accommodation 
Equipment element of Space Station Freedom.  The contract, signed in 1987, 
was valued at approximately $555 million.  The payload accommodation 
equipment portion of Freedom was deferred indefinitely from the space 
station during the early phases of a Congressionally-mandated 90-day 
restructuring review of the Freedom program.


The STS-37 pre-flight mission briefings will be held on Feb. 25 and 26, next 
Monday and Tuesday.  On Feb. 25, at 9 am EST lead flight director Chuck 
Shaw will provide a mission overview.  At 10 am, the Gamma Ray 
Observatory team will report on the status and mission of the second of the 
Great Observatories.  Following the GRO briefing, investigators will brief on 
the secondary payloads.  At 2 pm, the crew will brief on their flight duties.  
All briefings except the GRO segment will originate from Johnson Space 
Center.  The GRO briefing will originate from Goddard Space Flight Center.  
The briefings will be carried live on NASA Select TV.

JSC has also planned an extra-vehicular activity workshop for Tuesday, Feb. 
26, at 10 am EST.  The workshop features a briefing on EVA planning and 
equipment development and will offer an opportunity to try out the 
equipment.  The workshop will take place in JSC Building 9B, on the air-
bearing floor.

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Professor Regina McConnell, concert artist and head of the Voice Faculty at 
Howard University, and Dr. Dudley McConnell, Solar System Exploration 
Division deputy director for advanced programs, will present "African-
American Heritage in Song and Words," to commemorate Black History 
Month.  The presentation will take place at 10:30 am EST, this Thursday in 
the NASA Headquarters Auditorium.
     
Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV.  
All times are Eastern.  **indicates a live program.

Tuesday, 2/19/91

     12:00 pm     Starfinder program, "Expanding Universe."

     12:15 pm     NASA Life Sciences Program.

     12:30 pm     Shuttle Mission Simulator (at Johnson Space Center) Tour.

      1:00 pm     Total Quality Colloquium replay of Uli Derickson's address.  
		  Mrs. Derickson was the flight purser on TWA flight 847
		  when it was hijacked on the ground.

     2:00 pm      **JSC Center Director Aaron Cohen hosts "Space Basics" live 
		  from Johnson Space Center.

Wednesday, 2/20/91
     11:30 am     **Vice President Dan Quayle addresses employees at the 
		  Kennedy Space Center.

     

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.