MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-70 Status Report #10

Tuesday, July 18, 1995, 7 a.m. CDT

Discovery's crew downlinked video images of bioreactor tissue cultures
that were described as better than any seen before by investigators
who are working to qualify the machinery for use on orbit. The video
showed orange colon cancer cells coalescing into globules, some of
which were described by Mission Specialist Mary Ellen Weber as being
as large as a pea.

Bioreactors are extensively used by researchers on Earth to grow
three-dimensional cell cultures that cannot be produced by traditional
culture methods. The Bioreactor Development System is being used to
determine how effective the equipment is for supporting tissue growth
with minimal cell damage.

Pilot Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialist Don Thomas spoke with the
"Good Day, America" radio show out of Boston today, and answered
several questions posed by visitors to NASA's Shuttle Web site on the
Internet.

The crew also made HERCULES and WINDEX observations. Although several
attempts to align the HERCULES Inertial Measurement Unit were
unsuccessful, a previous alignment continued to allow geolocation of
targets below with sufficient accuracy. Commander Tom Henricks twice
fired Discovery's thrusters to allow the instrument to record the
effects on the glow seen around shuttle surfaces in an effort to
identify methods for protecting sensitive instruments from the
phenomenon.

The crew repaired a faulty vacuum cleaner cord that had tripped a
circuit breaker, although it will not be necessary to use the vacuum
again during the flight. For most flights, the vacuum is used only
three times -- early in the flight, at the midway point and just
before landing -- to clean dust and debris from air circulation
filters. The crew will use the sticky side of multipurpose gray tape
available on board to clean the filters if necessary.

The crew's day is shifting earlier to help prepare for the early
morning landing opportunities at the end of the mission. The next
eight-hour sleep period begins at 2:42 p.m. CDT today, and ends at
10:42 p.m. tonight.

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