Mission Control Status Report #27
4 p.m. CST  Thursday, November 2, 1995

Space Shuttle Columbia continues to perform well and support
U.S. Microgravity Lab-2 science investigations as members of the Red
Team wrapped up their 14th flight day.

What flight controllers believe to be an occasional glitch with two of
Columbia's small steering jets reoccurred today, resulting in a
temporary shutdown of the two small, or vernier, jets located on the
tail of the spacecraft. The glitch has occurred twice before during
the mission, and has been resolved each time by turning the
shuttle's autopilot off and on. The same actions restored the jets
function during this afternoon's problem, and they are now
functioning normally.

The glitch poses no problem for the mission, since Columbia's 38
primary jets are all in good working order. The small vernier jets are
only used to minimize interference with sensitive experiments ongoing
in the lab module.

The four crew members on the Red Team handed over to the Blue Team at
2:38 p.m. CST. The three Blue Team crew members will be on duty till
2:38 a.m.  Friday when they hand over to the Red Team.

Early this afternoon Pilot Kent Rominger, and payload specialists
Kathryn Thornton and Al Sacco conducted experiments in space and
answered questions from students in Worcester, Massachusetts, and
Louisville, Kentucky.  The experiments and questions focused on
surface tension and combustion concepts. Students were involved in
ground based adaptation experiments that have enabled them to work
alongside their counterparts in space.

To demonstrate surface tension in space, Sacco squeezed out a ball of
orange juice which immediately formed a sphere. The demonstration was
designed to illustrate how surface tension can make a fluid form a
sphere when it doesn’t have to contend with gravity. Shortly after
the demonstration, Sacco drank the experimental orange juice sphere.

The surface tension experiment studies the transition between steady
fluid flows to unstable fluid flows. Scientists are interested in such
studies because of their applications in areas of materials processing
such as the production of high-tech crystals, metals, alloys and
ceramics. The combustion experiments will give scientists insight into
the dynamics of burning fuel.

After completing its third thermal conditioning period earlier today,
Columbia returned to a "gravity gradient" attitude with the
orbiter tail pointing towards the Earth and the port wing pointing in
the direction of travel.

Because the gravity gradient attitude shades portions of the orbiter,
thermal conditioning periods are needed to warm the underside of the
orbiter and subsequently increase the landing gear tire pressure. One
more warm-up period is expected on Friday morning.

NASA Television programming early tomorrow will include a crew news 
conference with all crew members answering questions from members of the 
media. The event is scheduled for 3:41 a.m. CST.