From: yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Daily News for 09/11/92 (Forwarded)
Apparently-To: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Followup-To: sci.space
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 18:01:47 GMT

Daily  News
Friday, September 11, 1992  24-hour audio service at 202/755-1788

 % Spacelab payloads now loaded and stowed aboard Endeavour;
 % External Tank loading begins tomorrow morning at 2:03 am;
 % Weather remains favorable for Endeavour's launch tomorrow at 10:23 am;
 % Mars Observer mated and undergoing retesting atop Titan 3 launcher;
 % University of Alabama Consort flight yesterday hits snag during launch;
 % NASA again will provide additional satellite TV coverage of STS-47 mission.

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

Nearly all the preparatory activities for the launch of Endeavour
tomorrow morning at 10:23 am EDT have been completed.   The live
subjectsPfrogs and fishPhave been loaded into their experiment
containers in the Spacelab module; all orbiter reactant tanks and
propulsion system tanks except the main External Tank are now loaded
and pressurized.   The Rotating Service Structure will be removed from
around Endeavour later today.   Tanking of the External Tank is set to
begin at 2:03 am tomorrow morning, with crew wake-up set for around
5:00 am.   The flight crew is expected to depart for Launch Pad 39-B
shortly after 7:00 am tomorrow.

Weather forecasters are now predicting a 70 percent probability of
favorable weather throughout the duration of the launch windowPwhich
extends until 2:17 pm tomorrow.   The forecast deteriorated slightly
from the previous 80 percent fovorable.   The forecast remains the same
for a Sunday or Monday launch.   The major influence on Cape Canaveral
weather will be an upper level low pressure trough with a weak front
over the northern portion of the Florida peninsula.   Predicted local
conditions for tomorrow morning's launch period call for approximately
40 percent cloud cover at low, mid and high altitudes with light to
moderate easterly winds and a slight chance of showers.

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

Payload and launch vehicle activity to prepare the Mars Observer and
its Titan 3 launcher for their rescheduled September 25 lift-off are
once more nearing completion.  The payload is presently undergoing
science instrument testing following its mating last Friday to the
Titan.  Next Monday, engineers will perform a Titan integrated systems
test.   A countdown dress rehearsal is scheduled for next Thursday,
September 17, with vehicle oxidizer and fuel loading scheduled for
Sept. 20 and 21.   The launch window opens at 12:27 pm on Friday, Sept.
25, and closes at 2:27 pm.

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

Representatives of the University of Alabama-Huntsville  report that
yesterday's launch of nine materials science and biotechnology
experiments atop a Consort suborbital mission was less than fully
successful.   The flight of the launcher was nominal for the first 41
seconds and then the Starfire 1 second stage motor prematurely shutdown
three seconds prior to planned burnout.   The payload separated
normally 62 seconds into the mission but its rotations were not reduced
to the desired level for the microgravity experiments.   The payload
reached an altitude of just over 146 miles, about 38 miles lower than
nominal.

EER Systems Corp., Vienna, Virginia, provided the Consort launch
vehicle and is presently reviewing tracking, photographic and telemetry
data to determine the reason for the early burnout.   The payload
properly deployed its parachute and was recovered, as planned, by
helicopter.  Dr. Charles Lundquist, the UA-H Director for the
Consortium for Materials Development in Space, the mission sponsor,
said they did receive data from the mission but "we're disappointed."
Lundquist said useful research information would still result from the
mission.  This was the fifth such mission sponsored by Lundquist's
group.


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

NASA will again provide supplementary television coverage for the
duration of the STS-47 mission.   The mission will be covered in its
entirety beginning tomorrow morning on the regular NASA Select
television transponder.   In addition, two-hour daily summaries of
mission activity and project briefings will be transmitted on the
Spacenet 1 satellite from midnight Eastern Daylight Time through 2:00
am, except for Friday, Sept. 7, when the transmission begins at 3:00 am
EDT.   The summaries are transmitted on Spacenet to provide additional
satellite coverage to residents and organizations located in Alaska,
Hawaii and portions of the Pacific NorthwestPall of which lie at the
fringe or beyond the footprint of NASA Select's Satcom F2R satellite.
Spacenet 1 is located at 120 degrees West Longitude.   The NASA
transmissions will be on transponder 17L (4060 MHz).  Users of
24Pchannel satellite receivers should set their receiver to Channel
18.

  
Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select
TV.   Note that all events and times may change without notice, and
that all times listed are Eastern.   Live indicates a program is
transmitted live.

Friday, September 11, 1992
Live    8:30 am  Countdown status briefing from 
                 Kennedy Space Center, featuring Al Sofge, Shuttle Test 
                 Director,   and Glenn Snyder, STS-47 Payload Processing 
                 Manager.
Live    9:00 am  Spacelab-Japan briefing from Kennedy 
                 Space Center, featuring Fred Leslie, Marshall Space 
                 Flight Center Mission Scientist, Aubray King, MSFC 
                 Mission Manager, and Yoshinori Fujimori, Japan National 
                 Space Agency Project Scientist.
Live   10:00 am  Get Away Special briefing from 
                 Kennedy Space Center, featuring Clarke Prouty, Goddard 
                 Space Flight Center GAS mission manager, Kenneth Loth, 
                 Swedish Space Corporation, Stephen Goodman, British 
                 Aerospace, George Thomas, TRW, Jeff Slostad, University 
                 of Washington, Diane Chenevert, Spar Aerospace, and David 
                 Francisco, Lewis Research Center.
Live   11:00 am  ISAIAH briefing from Kennedy Space 
                 Center, featuring Gary Gutschewski, Johnson Space Center 
                 Mission Manager, Marvin George Klemov, Israeli Aircraft 
                 Industries, and Jacob Ishay, Tel-Aviv University.
Live   11:30 am  Pre-Launch Press conference from 
                 Kennedy Space Center, featuring Lennard Fisk, Associate 
                 Administrator for Space Science and Applications, Leonard 
                 Nicholson, Space Shuttle Manager, Robert Sieck, Kennedy 
                 Space Center Launch Director, Mike Adams, US Air Force 
                 Weather Liaison Officer, and a representative from the 
                 Japan National Space Agency.
        1:00 pm  (possible) Playback of Consort 5 launch 
                 from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico (taped on 
                 9/10/92).

Saturday, September 12, 1992
Live    2:00 am  Continuous live coverage of STS-47 mission begins.
Live   10:23 am  Scheduled launch time for Endeavour 
                 for STS-47 Spacelab-Japan mission.
       10:36 am  Replay of launch multiple-camera video coverage from KSC.
Live   11:30 am  Post-launch press conference from KSC.
Live    1:51 pm  Spacelab crew ingress from Endeavour.

Sunday, September 13, 1992
Live    2:00 pm  Today in Space program from MSFC.
Live    3:00 pm  Mission Status briefing from JSC and MSFC.
        9:00 pm  Replay of Today in Space.

Monday, September 14, 1992
Live    2:00 pm  Today in Space program from MSFC.
Live    3:00 pm  Mission Status briefing from JSC and MSFC.
        9:00 pm  Replay of Today in Space.
  
This report is filed daily at noon, Monday through Friday.   It is a
service of NASA's Office of Public Affairs.   The editor is Charles
Redmond, 202/453-8425 or CREDMOND on NASAmail.   NASA Select TV is
carried on GE Satcom F2R, transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees West
Longitude, transponder frequency is 3960 MegaHertz, audio subcarrier is
6.8 MHz, polarization is vertical.
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