MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-70 Status Report #6

Sunday, July 16, 1995, 7 a.m. CDT

As Discovery's crew began its fourth day in orbit, all of the space
shuttle' systems continued to perform exactly as designed, providing a
"no hassles" workplace for the astronauts' scientific investigations.

The crew was awakened at 1:11 a.m. CDT to the sounds of Mission
Specialist Nancy Currie's 8-year-old daughter, Stephanie, and her
Ferguson Elementary School second- grade classmates singing "God Bless
the USA"

Pilot Kevin Kregel is still having difficulty aligning the internal
navigation equipment on the HERCULES video camera, a payload sponsored
by the Department of Defense Space Test Program that allows the video
to be automatically marked with the latitude and longitude of its
subject areas. Payload controllers continued to investigate methods
that may make it easier for the crew to take sightings on stars and
align the camera as the flight progresses.

Mission Specialist Mary Ellen Weber also reported that the colon
cancer tissue samples growing in the Bioreactor Development System so
far look better than those cultured on the ground. The BDS is designed
to use ground-based and space-bioreactor systems to grow individual
cells into organized tissue that is morphologically and functionally
similar to the original tissue or organ. The BDS is composed of a
rotating cylinder that suspends cells and tissues in a growth medium,
simulating some aspects of microgravity. The system has been in use
for several years for ground-based research.

Other work today will include operations with a microbial
contamination monitor that will be used to check the purity of
drinking water samples, additional measurements of the astronauts’
visual acuity with the Visual Function Tester, and continued study of
the glowing effect created by spacecraft surfaces as they encounter
atomic oxygen in low orbit.

The crew is scheduled to participate in a news conference at 7:32
a.m. CDT, answering questions from media representatives in Houston,
Cleveland and Florida.

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