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=--=--=START=--=--= NASA Spacelink File Name:6_2_2_46_3_2.TXT
STS-51 General News Release
ACTS DEPLOYMENT HIGHLIGHTS STS-51 MISSION
RELEASE: 93-121
The deployment of a satellite which will serve as a testbed for
technology leading to a new generation of communication satellites
and the deployment and retrieval of a U.S./German free-flying
scientific observation satellite highlight NASA's Shuttle Mission
STS-51.
The mission, which is scheduled for mid-July, 1993, also will
see Space Shuttle Discovery and her five-person crew conduct a
variety of experiments on the effects of microgravity on various
plants and materials along with other payloads which will perform
photographic observations during the mission.
The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) program
provides for the development and flight test of high-risk, advanced
communications satellite technology. Using sophisticated antenna
beams and advanced on-board switching and processing systems, ACTS
will pioneer new initiatives in communications satellite technology.
The Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet
Spectrometer - Shuttle Pallet Satellite (ORFEUS-SPAS) mission is the
first of a series of missions using the German built ASTRO-SPAS
science satellite. ASTRO-SPAS is a spacecraft designed for launch,
deployment and retrieval by the Space Shuttle.
Once deployed from the Shuttle by its Remote Manipulation
System (RMS), ASTRO-SPAS operates quasi-autonomously for several
days in the Shuttle vicinity. After completion of the free flight
phase, the satellite is retrieved by the RMS and returned to Earth.
ORFEUS-SPAS is an astrophysics mission, designed to investigate very
hot and very cold matter in the universe.
On the fifth day of the mission, two STS-51 crew members will
perform a 6-hour extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk, as
part of a continuing series of test spacewalks NASA is conducting to
increase experience with spacewalks and refine spacewalk training
methods.
In addition to performing tasks that investigate a
spacewalker's mobility in general, the astronauts will evaluate
several tools that may be used during the servicing of the Hubble
Space Telescope (HST) later this year on mission STS-61, including a
power socket wrench, a torque wrench, foot restraint, safety tethers
and tool holder.
Leading the STS-51 crew will be Mission Commander Frank
Culbertson who will be making his second space flight. The pilot
for the mission is William Readdy, making his second flight. The
three mission specialists for this flight are Daniel Bursch (MS-1),
James Newman (MS-2) and Carl Walz (MS-3), all three of whom will be
making their first flight.
The mission duration for STS-51 is planned for 9 days with a
scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
This will be the 17th flight of Space Shuttle Discovery and the
57th flight of the Space Shuttle system.
Source:NASA Spacelink Modem:205-895-0028 Internet:192.149.89.61
=--=--=-END-=--=--=