MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-68 Status Report #8


Tuesday, October 4, 1994, 5 p.m. CDT

Space Radar Laboratory-2 scientists adjusted their observation plans to
take advantage of an opportunity to train their instruments on the islands
of Japan following a Tuesday night earthquake there. 

Endeavour passed over the Sarobetsu, Japan, calibration site about 3:30
p.m. CDT, and the Synthetic Aperture Radar sent down real-time data of the
area below, allowing scientists to look for changes in the coastline of
the islands that may have been due to the large tsunami waves associated
with the quake. The Spaceborne Imaging Radar also recorded data on the
area. 

STS-68 crew members continued to perform slight maneuvers to fine tune
Endeavour's orbit to intersect its track on the SRL-1 mission to support a
new experiment called interferometry. The trim burns adjusted the orbit to
within 30 feet of where it was in April as it passed over the Mammoth
Mountain, Calif., backup supersite. This should allow scientists to make
nearly identical measurements with the radar equipment to develop a three
dimensional comparison of environmental changes during the six months
separating STS-59 and STS-68. 

Radar images over the Sahara desert and the North Atlantic will help
scientists evaluate global changes and how they affect the climates in
other areas of the world. 

Also today, Payload Commander Tom Jones discussed the significance of
radar systems and the Earth's environment in an interview with ABC's Good
Morning America.  Mission Specialist Jeff Wisoff discussed the mission
with CONUS Communications Syndicate affiliates WTKR-TV in his hometown of
Norfolk, Va., and the All-News Channel in Minneapolis. 

The STS-68 mission remains scheduled to end on Monday with a landing at
the Kennedy Space Center. Mission managers will assess the orbiter's
consumables and decide later this week if Endeavour can stay in space an
additional day. 

The earlier trim burns placed Endeavour in a 118 by 116 nautical mile
orbit, circling the earth every one hour 29 minutes.  The vehicle
continues to operate in excellent shape with no systems problems being
tracked by the flight control teams in Mission Control. 

***