STS-69 Day 5 Highlights

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On Monday, September 11, 1995, 7 a.m. CDT, STS-69 MCC Status Report # 08 reports:

Endeavour's astronauts successfully deployed the 2-ton Wake Shield Facility satellite this morning to begin its 50-hour free flight from the Shuttle for the growth of thin films for semiconductor and electrical component use.

Astronaut Jim Newman used the ship's robot arm to release the experimental satellite at 6:25 AM CDT over Western Africa at an altitude of almost 250 miles above the Earth. Within seconds of the deploy, the Wake Shield fired a small cold gas nitrogen thruster to maneuver away from Endeavour for the start of the chemical growth of the thin films. It was the first time a deployed satellite had maneuvered itself away from the Shuttle, rather than the other way around.

Wake Shield's deployment had been delayed for almost two hours to enable flight controllers to troubleshoot a series of communications dropouts between the satellite and the Wake Shield's carrier platform in the Shuttle's cargo bay which acts as a radio relay system for data, telemetry and television signals. Wake Shield hung at the end of the robot arm during its night-long systems checkout.

Before its deployment, the satellite was positioned over the port side of the payload bay to allow a stream of atomic oxygen in low Earth orbit to "cleanse" the side of the satellite which will fly in the direction of travel around the Earth. The satellite will create a wake behind it during its freeflight in which scientists believe a nearly perfect vacuum will be created for the pristine growth of thin film wafers to be used in semiconductors and other hight-tech electrical components.

The last major step prior to the deployment was the checkout of the Wake Shield's attitude control system, which developed a problem during the STS-60 mission in February 1994, preventing the satellite from being set free. This time, the so-called Attitude Determination and Control System checked out in good shape, clearing the way for Wake Shield's release.

The Wake Shield is scheduled to be retrieved by Newman through the use of the robot arm on Wednesday, but not before the satellite is used as a target for a series of jet thruster plume tests by Commander Dave Walker and Pilot Ken Cockrell to collect data on the effect of jet firings on a free-flying satellite.

Endeavour is currently orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 250 statute miles, completing an orbit of the Earth every 90 minutes. All of Endeavour's systems are functioning in excellent shape.

On Monday, September 11, 1995, 5 p.m. CDT, STS-69 MCC Status Report # 09 reports:

Trailing Endeavour by just over 14 nautical miles, the 2-ton Wake Shield Facility began its first thin film processing run at 3:33 p.m. Central today.

Payload controllers successfully commanded the Wake Shield through a series of activities to prepare its surface for the epitaxial film growth process, handing command duties over to Mission Specialist Jim Newman when Endeavour moved out of range of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. With Wake Shield's sample materials and substrate surfaces prepared, the first of seven planned thin film growth runs began. The first run is expected to last about three hours and be a "dirty" run, removing any residual contamination present in the containers housing the sample growth materials.

Earlier this afternoon, Commander Dave Walker and Pilot Ken Cockrell fired Endeavour's reaction control system jets in a burn that slowed the rate at which the two spacecraft are separating. By the time of a scheduled rendezvous burn at 4:36 a.m. Tuesday, the Wake Shield will be approximately 30 nautical miles behind Endeavour.

The Wake Shield is scheduled to be retrieved on Wednesday following more than 48 hours of thin film growth activities, but will spend the final five hours of its free-flight serving as a target as Commander Dave Walker and Pilot Ken Cockrell aim Endeavour's jet thrusters toward Wake Shield, to determine the effects of the jet firings on a free-flying satellite.

On board, the five astronauts are asleep. Mission Specialist Mike Gernhardt will wake up at 9:09 p.m. following a 7-hour sleep period. His four crew mates began an 8-hour sleep period at 4:09 p.m. and will awaken at 12:09 a.m. Tuesday. Endeavour is currently orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 250 statute miles, completing an orbit of the Earth every 90 minutes. All of Endeavour's systems are functioning in excellent shape.

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