From: gmarfoe@eng.auburn.edu (Gerald George Marfoe)
Subject: NASA Daily News, 9/11/92
Reply-To: gmarfoe@eng.auburn.edu
Organization: Auburn University Engineering
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 06:16:25 GMT

(Forwarded from the NASA Spacelink BBS)
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Gerald G. Marfoe                    |"Mirabile visu. Mirabilia/Et itur ad astra
InterNet: gmarfoe@eng.auburn.edu    |... Suus cuique mos. Suum cuique.../
          ggmar@ducvax.auburn.edu   |Memento, terrigena./Memento, vita brevis."
          ggmar@hoshi.colorado.edu  |- "Afer Ventus", Enya, "Shepherd Moons"
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NASA 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 subjects, frogs and
fish, have 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 window, which extends until 
2:17 pm tomorrow. The forecast deteriorated slightly from the previous 
80 percent favorable. 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 September 20 and 21. The launch 
window opens at 12:27 pm on Friday, September 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, September 18, 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 
Northwest, all 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 24, channel 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.
  
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.