STUCK HATCH & ALIENS?
96-12-05 12:57:16 EST
Source: AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
.c The Associated Press
By MICHELLE KOIDIN
Associated Press Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Clouds moved in at the last minute
Thursday and delayed space shuttle Columbia's return to Earth,
offering the world's oldest spaceman one more precious day in orbit
before he ends his flying career.
``Give me another day up here and I'll take every second of
it,'' Dr. Story Musgrave, 61, assured Mission Control.
This is Musgrave's sixth and final spaceflight.
Thursday was the original landing day for Columbia's research
mission, which was marred by a jammed hatch. Mission Control added
a 17th day to the flight to permit more observations by a telescope
released by the crew, but later took the extra day back because of
the poor weather forecast for Friday.
Low clouds moved in from offshore on Thursday, however, and the
outlook for Friday morning improved. What's more, the shuttle
cargo-bay doors closed easily in preparation for Thursday's landing
attempt, giving flight controllers confidence the doors would work
just as well on Friday.
If the cargo-bay doors jammed, two astronauts would have had to
pry open the stuck hatch in order to go out and fix the doors. By
forcing the hatch open, they might have damaged it even more and
prevented it from sealing after the spacewalk, a perilous
situation.
The astronauts were quiet when told they would be staying up
until Friday after all.
``We haven't heard from Story lately. You all didn't leave him
up there, did you?'' Mission Control asked.
``I wish they'd left me up here,'' Musgrave replied.
NASA told Musgrave before the flight not to expect another.
The ex-Marine, mathematician and surgeon became the oldest
person ever in space when Columbia rocketed into orbit on Nov. 19,
as well as the first person to fly six times on space shuttles. He
has been an astronaut since 1967, two years before man landed on
the moon.
Although the astronauts released and retrieved a pair of science
satellites, two practice spacewalks were canceled because of the
stuck hatch, freeing up the crew's time.
Musgrave said the slower-than-expected pace of the mission gave
him more time to achieve the goals -- ``human experiences,'' he
called them -- that he had listed on index cards before the flight.
``It's really fortunate that I've had this kind of mission ...
because I have had the time to explore my inner self and to explore
what space is all about, to put some kind of closure on it,''
Musgrave said.
``I think from this point on, I will be able to take myself up
here imaginatively, that in my imagination I will be able to
experience space because I've had such a rich experience up here.''
As always, Musgrave, a believer in intelligent life elsewhere in
the universe, tried to contact anyone or anything that might be out
there.
What if aliens had come calling, but Musgrave couldn't let them
in because of the jammed hatch?
``If they're so advanced to get here,'' he explained patiently,
``they would open the hatch for us.''
AP-NY-12-05-96 1254EST
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