From: yee@atlas.arc.nasa.gov (Peter Yee)
Subject: NASA Daily News for 12/11/92 (Forwarded)
Apparently-To: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Followup-To: sci.space
Originator: yee@atlas.arc.nasa.gov
Reply-To: yee@atlas.arc.nasa.gov (Peter Yee)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 19:24:37 GMT

Daily News   Friday, December 11, 1992
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. 20546    Audio service: 202/358-3014

 % KSC ground team finds few tile dings on Discovery;
 % Endeavour preparations coming to a close, TCDT set for next week;
 % 5th Town Meeting gets underway at 1:00 pm today in Tampa;
 % Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite continues doing fine - save one device;
 % Russian and U.S. satellite-mounted Ozone Mappers also performing solidly.

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

The Kennedy Space Center ground processing team has examined Discovery,
following Wednesday's landing, and found 126 dings to tiles with only 9
being larger than a couple of centimeters (one inch or less).  Present
plans call for Discovery to make the 747-ferry flight back to Florida
starting next Tuesday, Dec. 15.

Meanwhile, back on Florida's Spacecoast, KSC technicians working to
prepare Endeavour for its January 1993, STS-54 mission to deploy the
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, are in the process of closing out
various vehicle systems or loading various propellants and reactants.
The launch dress-rehearsalPTerminal Countdown Demonstration TestP will
be conducted next Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 15 and 16.  Endeavour's
STS-54 TDRS-deploy mission is set for launch in mid-January.

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

NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin will begin today the fifth in NASA's
series of Town Meetings, this one in the Theater of the University of
South Florida at Tampa.  Accompanying the Administrator will be other
high-ranking NASA officials who will also participate in the
colloquium.  NASA Select television coverage of this event will begin
at 1:00 pm EST.  The Town Meetings include presentations by these top
NASA officials and invited individuals from universities and industry,
in this case from Florida.  Members of the audience have several
opportunities during the 4-hour long meeting to raise questions or
comment on the presentations.  The next Town Meeting will be held in
Seattle on Dec. 16.

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

Satellite controllers at the Goddard Space Flight Center report the
Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is performing nominally and all
instruments except one are performing their scheduled scientific
investigations.  The chopper motor on the Improved Stratospheric and
Mesopheric Sounder previously had failed, preventing that instrument
from functioning.  Goddard and UARS technicians continue
troubleshooting on the instrument and were encouraged recently by
changes in the thermal behavior of the system.

Goddard staff working with the Meteor-3/Total Ozone Mapping
Spectrometer project report their instrument aboard the Russian weather
satellite continues to function perfectly.  Atmospheric scientists at
Goddard are presently studying the effect of the Russian satellite's
different orbit on their ability to predict ozone trends.  The Russian
satellite's orbit also allows for observations of aerosols, such as
those erupted by the Mt. Pinatubo volcano, on near-twilight ozone
observations.  The scientists report that data quality from their TOMS
instrumentsPon the Russian Meteor spacecraft and the U.S. Nimbus-7
spacecraftPhas continued to be excellent.

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

Hubble Space Telescope astronomers will present more new findings, this
time concerning protoplanets, at a Space Astronomy Update program next
Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 1:00 pm.  The program will be shown live on NASA
Select television.

  
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, December 11, 1992
Live   12:00 pm  NASA Today news program.
       12:15 pm  Aeronautics & Space Report.
       12:30 pm  Shaping Tomorrow.
        1:00 pm  NASA Town Meeting #5 from the Theater on 
                 the campus of the University of South Florida at Tampa.
     at 4:00 and 8:00 pm and 12:00 midnight the broadcast schedule of the
                 day repeats.
Wednesday, December 16, 1992
Live    1:00 pm  Astronomy Update series on Hubble Space Telescope images
                 of protoplanets.
  at    4:00 and 8:00 pm and 12:00 midnight the broadcast schedule of the day
                 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, 202/358-3014 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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