STS-72 Status Report # 4
 Mission Control Center

Friday, January 12, 1996, 5 p.m. CST

A day of preparation for events to come concluded aboard Endeavour
this morning, and Endeavour is now on course for the planned retrieval
early Saturday of the Japanese Space Flyer Unit satellite.

Following an orbit-raising burn early this morning, Endeavour is now
less than 300 statute miles from the SFU and closing in on the
satellite at a little over 60 statute miles per orbit.  The crew began
an eight-hour sleep period at 10:41 a.m. CST and will awaken for Day 3
of the mission at 6:41 p.m. CST today.

During their second day in space, Pilot Brent Jett and Mission
Specialist Koichi Wakata performed a survey of Endeavour's cargo
bay using the shuttle's robot arm, finding everything in excellent
shape. Also, astronauts Leroy Chiao, Winston Scott and Dan Barry
checked out the spacesuits and spacewalking gear they will use later
in the flight to perform two spacewalks. All three suits were found to
be in good condition. Chiao and Barry are planned to conduct the first
spacewalk starting on Sunday night. Chiao will be joined by Scott on
Tuesday for the second excursion into Endeavour's cargo bay. Both
spacewalks will test tools and techniques for the assembly of the
international Space Station.

For Day 3, the primary objective will be the capture and berthing of
the SFU. Rendezvous operations will begin in earnest at about 12:44
a.m. CST Saturday as Endeavour, then eight nautical miles from the
SFU, starts the Terminal Initiation burn to close the final distance
to the satellite. As Endeavour approaches the final half-mile,
Commander Brian Duffy will begin manually flying the shuttle. Wakata
is planned to capture the SFU using the robot arm at about 3:24
a.m. CST Saturday.

The SFU was launched on March 18, 1995 atop a Japanese H-2 rocket from
the Tanageshima Space Center in Japan for 10 months of materials
science studies and biological experiments.

Endeavour is now in a 251 by 246 nautical mile orbit. The JSC newsroom
will close for the day at 5 p.m. Central time and will reopen at 11
p.m.  The next status report will be issued at 5 p.m. Central time.