Earlier this morning, Blue Team members, Payload Commander Tammy Jernigan, Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence and Payload Specialist Sam Durrance, continued with planned maneuvers of the orbiter in support of Astro-2 telescope observations of stars, galaxies and the interstellar medium.
Investigations also continue for several middeck experiments.
When Lawrence reset the circuit breaker on the middeck experiment and repowered the heater controller, ground controllers noticed a short. Other activities performed by the Blue Team include a successful alignment of the inertial measurement units which was performed by Lawrence, and a 12-hour water dump using the flash evaporator system was initiated this morning. Jernigan officially had the morning off in the the first round of off-duty shifts designed to give the crew a break from their busy schedule. Durrance was scheduled for some time off on the second half of the Blue Team day. Red Team Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld will have the first portion of his day off this morning and Payload Specialist Ron Parise will have the afternoon off.