MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-67 Status Report #5

Friday, March 3, 4 p.m. CST

While the shuttle's cargo bay telescopes continued their studies of
the universe, Endeavour's astronauts set up an experiment inside the
cabin that will provide valuable information to space station
builders.

Commander Steve Oswald and Pilot Bill Gregory set up the Middeck
Active Control Experiment (MACE) hardware. MACE is a five-foot long
flexible beam with mock satellite instruments mounted at either
end. It will float free in the shuttle's lower deck, and the
astronauts will measure how disturbances caused by one instrument
affect the performance of the instrument at the experiment's opposite
end. The information gathered will assist engineers in designing more
stable space structures.

The crew has begun testing out the MACE equipment and its
communications with the ground. Some problems were experienced
initially in sending information from the ground to the experiment
during checkouts, however such an uplink of information is not planned
or needed for the MACE operations for several days. Meanwhile, MACE is
on schedule and ground engineers expect to receive the first results
from its studies at about 10:30 p.m.CST.

Coming up at 5:09 p.m. CST, the commander and Payload Specialist Ron
Parise are scheduled to be interviewed by WKRC-TV in Cincinnati.

Endeavour continues to provide a solid platform for the Astro-2
ultraviolet astronomy observations that are the mainstay of the
mission, with no mechanical problems in an orbit of 190 by 188
nautical miles.

The Red Team -- Oswald, Gregory, Parise and Mission Specialist John
Grunsfeld -- is on duty while the Blue Team -- Payload Commander Tammy
Jernigan, Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence and Payload Specialst Sam
Durrance -- is in a sleep shift that will end about 9:30 p.m. CST.

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