MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-70 Status Report #3

Friday, July 14, 1995, 5 p.m. CDT

Discovery's crew began a steady pace of working with a variety of
secondary experiments aboard the shuttle today, their first full day
in orbit.

The primary objective for Discovery -- releasing a Tracking and Data
Relay Satellite -- was accomplished yesterday. Today, the crew worked
with experiments ranging from the HERCULES camera, a camera that can
imprint the latitude and longitude of areas photographed on Earth, to
the Windex, a study of the glow created as the shuttle surfaces
interact with atomic oxygen in low Earth orbit.

Commander Tom Henricks also fired Discovery's engines to lower the
shuttle's orbit, a firing that enhanced the landing opportunities that
will be available at the end of the flight and provided a viewing
opportunity for the Windex experiment. Mission Specialist Nancy Currie
set up Windex to observe the effect of the engine firing on the
glowing phenomenon. Investigators with the experiment hope to better
characterize the glow, which occurs on all spacecraft in low orbit,
and thus better design future Earth orbiting, sensitive astronomy
satellites with which such a glow could interfere.

Also, Henricks, Pilot Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialist Mary Ellen
Weber answered questions from the general public via the New York
Times On-Line Services. The crew will begin an eight-hour sleep period
at 6:12 p.m. They will awaken at 2:12 a.m. Saturday.

Discovery is now in an orbit with a high point of 195 statute miles
and a low point of 175 statute miles, circling Earth every 90 minutes,
36 seconds.

-- end --