From: yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee)
Newsgroups: sci.space.news
Subject: NASA Daily News for 09/15/92 (Forwarded)
Date: 15 Sep 92 17:07:48 GMT
Followup-To: sci.space
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Apparently-To: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov

Daily                News
Tuesday, September 15, 1992  24-hour audio service at 202/755-1788

 % Endeavour and Spacelab continue to provide flawless performance;
 % STS-47 crew presses on with materials, life science experiments;
 % Mission control technicians left in dark as power glitch affects Houston;
 % Mae Jemison to speak to Chicago-area students tomorrow at 7:56 pm EDT.
 % Columbia set for move to assembly building as STS-52 preparations continue;
 % Administrator Goldin names Deidre Lee to deputy procurement position;

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

Endeavour and the Spacelab module continue to provide the crew of STS-47 
with flawless performance.  The crew has accumulated enough surplus power 
since the mission began for flight controllers to add an additional on-
orbit day, should mission managers decide to do so.  That management 
decision will likely be made in the next day or so.

Experiments underway in the Spacelab  include a variety of materials 
investigations using both the Continuous Heating Furnace and the Image 
Furnace as well as acoustic levitation experiments using the Liquid Drop 
Facility.  The Life Science investigations continue with half of the 
fertilized frog eggs having been placed in the centrifuge and the other 
half remaining in microgravity.  Some of the frog embryos were fixed with 
formaldehyde so investigators can examine the development of the embryos 
at various stages.

The Spacelab-J crew also continued their investigations into the effects 
of microgravity on the human body with mission specialists Jan Davis and 
Mae Jemison both wearing electrocardiographs as they took part in the 
Lower Body Negative Pressure tests.

Other activity by the Endeavour crew included participation in a CBS 
Radio program by Jay Apt during which the crewman answered phoned-in 
questions.  Apt also reported receiving nearly two thousand amateur radio 
contacts during yesterday's Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment.

Flight controllers at the Mission Control Center in Houston yesterday 
afternoon were left in the dark for about six minutes during a changeover 
from diesel-powered generators to the regularly-supplied power from 
Houston Lighting and Power.  The fault was determined to lie with a 
changeover switch.  The control center had previously switched to 
generator power while thunderstorms raged through the Clear Lake area.  
The power loss did not cause any data loss to the mission operations 
computers nor to the payload controllers in Huntsville, who were still in 
contact with the Endeavour crew.  The faulty electrical switch is being 
fixed.

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

Tomorrow, Endeavour astronaut Mae Jemison will speak with students from 
Chicago-area schools in a televised interactive program broadcast from 
the shuttle.  The program, which will begin at 7:56 pm EDT, was developed 
through a collaboration between NASA, the Chicago Board of Education and 
Chicago television station WGN.  The students will be assembled at 
Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry; WGN will provide broadcast 
links between Chicago and the Johnson Space Center.  WGN will also 
provide other broadcasters a pool feed of the event.

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

Preparations for the next shuttle flight are proceeding on schedule at 
the Kennedy Space Center as technicians get Columbia ready for its move 
to the Vehicle Assembly Building from the Orbiter Processing Facility 
later this week.  Columbia is tentatively set for a launch in mid-October 
to  deploy a variety of scientific payloads.

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

NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin yesterday named Deidre A. Lee as the 
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Procurement.  Lee has been serving as 
the Executive Officer to the Acting Deputy Administrator, Aaron Cohen.  
Lee joined NASA in 1984 and has served in a variety of procurement 
positions including chief of space shuttle procurement at the Johnson 
Space Center.  Administrator Goldin said "we are very fortunate to have a 
person with Lee's considerable experience to fill this position at a time 
when we are undertaking major procurement reforms."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NASA is again providing supplementary television coverage for the 
duration of the STS-47 mission.  The mission is being covered in its 
entirety on the regular NASA Select television transponder.  In addition, 
two-hour daily summaries of mission activity and project briefings are 
being 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.

Tuesday, September 15, 1992
Live   2:00 pm  Today in Space program from MSFC.
Live   3:00 pm  Mission Status briefing from JSC and MSFC.
Live   4:53 pm  CNN Interview with mission commander Robert Gibson.
       8:30 pm  Replay of Today in Space.
       9:00 pm  Flight Day 4 highlights.

Wednesday, September 16, 1992
Live   7:33 am  Conversation with Japanese youth.
Live   2:00 pm  Today in Space program from MSFC.
Live   3:00 pm  Mission Status briefing from JSC and MSFC.
       8:30 pm  Replay of Today in Space.
Live   7:56 pm  Chicago-area students conversation with Mae Jemison.
       9:00 pm  Flight Day 5 highlights.

Thursday, September 17, 1992
Live   6:18 am  Crew on-orbit press conference.
Live   2:00 pm  Today in Space program from MSFC.
Live   3:00 pm  Mission Status briefing from JSC and MSFC.
       8:30 pm  Replay of Today in Space.
       9:00 pm  Flight Day 6 highlights.

Friday, September 18, 1992
Live   7:53 am  VIP conversation with Japanese payload specialist Mamoru Mohri.
Live   2:00 pm  Today in Space program from MSFC.
Live   3:00 pm  Mission Status briefing from JSC and MSFC.
       8:30 pm  Replay of Today in Space.
       9:00 pm  Flight Day 7 highlights.

Saturday, September 19, 1992
       5:59 am  Scheduled time of Endeavour's re-entry maneuver.
Live   6:59 am  Scheduled time of landing of STS-47 crew and 
                Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility.

  
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.
Newsgroups: sci.space