[Downloaded from NASA Spacelink]

STS-65 Status Report #2
6 a.m. July 9, 1994
Mission Control Center

All systems aboard the Columbia are operating well as the space shuttle
provides a stable platform for more than 80 international microgravity
investigations.

The Blue Team astronauts -- Mission Specialists Carl Walz, Don Thomas and Leroy
Chiao -- began the first shift of operational research after the Red Team --
Commander Bob Cabana, Pilot Jim Halsell, Payload Commander Rick Hieb and
Japanese Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai -- powered up International
Microgravity Lab-2 and checked out the lab's equipment.  As the Blue Team
works, the Red team is awakening after an 8-hour sleep shift.

While Chiao and Thomas worked in the Spacelab module tucked in Columbia's
payload bay, Walz took care of orbiter housekeeping chores, and performed the
first run on the Performance Assessment Workstation, or PAWS. Using graphic
input devices that coincide with targets on a computer screen, crew members
will record the effects of microgravity on the cognitive skills required for
successful performance of many tasks during the mission.  The laptop computer
will record the speed and accuracy of the cursor movements, and the time
required to interpret the displayed instruction throughout the flight.

Columbia is now in a 163 by 161 nautical mile orbit, with no significant
problems seen by the crew or flight controllers.

The Johnson Space Center Newsroom will open at 8 a.m.  Saturday and close at 2
p.m.  The newsroom hours on Sunday also will be 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.  On weekdays
during the mission, the newsroom will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.