home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Space & Astronomy
/
Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso
/
pc
/
text
/
stskits
/
901008c.sts
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-10-08
|
3KB
|
55 lines
Mission Control Status #9
MISSION CONTROL STATUS REPORT
REPORT 9
Oct. 8, 1990. Flight Day 3
MET 02/04:30
CDT 11:17 a.m.
STS-41 crew members continued their work with secondary
payloads during their third day in flight and downlinked a "home
movie" for family members who were expected to be in the Mission
Control viewing room this afternoon.
Crew members wished Tom Akers' wife, Kaye, a happy birthday
complete with a glowing green, chem-light "candle" stuck in a
"bakery product," a birthday sign, and a rousing rendition of
"Happy Birthday" sung by what Commander Dick Richards described
as the "Discovery Chorus" and included all five crew members.
"I don't think the new kids in space will replace the New
Kids on the Block," said Capcom Kathy Thornton to the crew.
The crew also downlinked recorded camcorder film footage of
Oct. 6's Ulysses deploy. Flight controllers noted the movement of
a banana-shaped object that appeared to move out from behind
Discovery's tail as Ulysses left the payload bay.
In activities inside the Shuttle, crew members have
continued to gather data from the Shuttle Solar Backscatter
Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment which uses a solar backscatter
ultraviolet (SBUV) spectrometer. The purpose of this experiment
is to provide regular, real-time on-orbit calibration of the SBUV
spectrometers on satellites, such as the advanced TIROS-N and
NIMBUS-7. Investigators expect this calibration will ensure
accurate atmospheric ozone and solar irradiance data collection
by satellites. Crew members activated the experiment on flight
day one and are recording SSBUV measurements. Values will be
compared postflight with near-simultaneous measurements from a
satellite SBUV spectrometer for calibration.
The Chromosome and Plant Cell Division (CHROMEX-2)
experiment also is receiving crew attention today. The experiment
is a plant root growth experiment with daylily and Haplopappus
gracilis as plant specimens. It is designed to determine whether
roots of the flown plants can be initiated and grown in
microgravity as in Earth gravity. Crew members check the
experiment daily.