From: yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Daily News for 08/26/92 (Forwarded)
Apparently-To: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Followup-To: sci.space
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 23:01:40 GMT

	Daily                News
Wednesday, August 26, 1992 24-hour audio service at 202/755-1788

 % Endeavour now on Launch Pad 39-B; Dress rehearsal set for tomorrow;
 % Robots to demonstrate their mettle on simulated Martian surface in
       Washington;
 % JPL reports TOPEX/Poseidon is fine and presently undergoing check-out
       testing;
 % Marshall educators working with St. Louis and Little Rock school systems;

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

Endeavour arrived at Launch Pad 39-B yesterday afternoon following its
rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building.  The dress rehearsal
Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test is set to begin tomorrow and
conclude with a simulated launch on Friday, Aug. 28, at 11:00 am EDT.
The Flight Readiness Review for the Spacelab-Japan STS-47 mission is
set for Tuesday, September 1, also at Kennedy Space Center.  Flight
management will conclude the FRR by issuing an official launch date.
The current schedule is holding steady, though, and shows a launch date
of Sept.  12 for the seven-day, seven-crew member international science
mission.

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

Members of the press have been invited to a robot parade and press
preview this coming Monday, Aug. 31, at 11:00 am EDT on the Mall in
downtown Washington.  Providing the preview will be NASA Administrator
Daniel Goldin, National Air and Space Museum Director Martin Harwit,
Planetary Society Executive Director Louis Friedman, and
representatives from the Russian Space Agency.

The parade will be the largest gathering of interplanetary rovers ever
and will feature the robots ambling from the Air and Space Museum to a
tent about a block away.  Following the parade, the robots will be on
display to the public Sept. 1 and 2.  The parade and exposition are
being staged as part of the International Space Year Exhibition of
Robots for Exploring New Worlds.  Among the robots on display will be
one which weighs only 4 pounds and another which weighs nearly 3 tons.

During the exposition period, the robots will be demonstrating their
capabilities each day from 10:00 am through 6:00 pm EDT as they perform
on a 24-by-40 foot section of simulated Martian surface.

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

Jet Propulsion Laboratory flight controllers report that the
TOPEX/Poseidon spacecraft is healthy and performing in a nominal
manner.  The onboard attitude control computer, electrical supply and
distribution system, telecommunications systems and master computer are
all working properly.  The French Solid State Altimeter is presently in
a four-day check-out period.  French engineers at the Centre National
d'Etude Spatiales, Toulouse, report the altimeter data so far indicates
their instrument looks good.  The NASA altimeter will be commanded to
the tracking mode following this test of the French instrument.  The
TOPEX Microwave Radiometer is on and working well.  Engineers plan a
maneuver tomorrow to modify the satellite's inclination to the planned
66-degree inclination.

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

The Marshall Space Flight Center's education office has begun a project
with the St. Louis School Partnership Program which involves an
exchange of students from inner-city schools with suburban schools.
The Marshall participation will include use of a Spacemobile teacher
workshop and the presentation of special programs at school assemblies
and in classrooms.  Marshall is also working with a Little Rock school
system which has selected space as the theme for a multiple-school
program.  Marshall educators will be working with all the 5th grade
students from six Little Rock schools.

  
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.

Wednesday, August 26, 1992
  12:00 pm  NASA artists.
  12:15 pm  Aeronautics & Space Report.
  12:30 pm  Live via Satellite.
   1:00 pm  Apollo 17 P On Shoulders of Giants.
   1:30 pm  Life in the Universe program #3 P Zero-G and Space Suits.
   2:00 pm  Launch Box program #4 P The Living Earth.
   2:30 pm  And then There Was Voyager.
   3:00 pm  Total Quality Management program #28 P Univ. of New Mexico series.
   4:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
   8:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
  12:00 am  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
  
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.news