STS-75 Mission Control Center 
Status Report # 12

Tuesday, February 27, 1996, 5 p.m. CST

Columbia's crew moved into the second major objective of their flight
this afternoon, turning attention to the weightless investigations of
the United States Microgravity Payload-3.

The crew performed further checks this afternoon of the Middeck Glove
Box Experiment, readying the equipment on Columbia's lower deck for
several studies of combustion planned later in the mission. Crew
members this evening will have a light day of activities, each
enjoying a half-day of free time as is customary on two-week long
shuttle flights.

The crew also took a break from today's experiments for interviews
by the Cable News Network and the syndicated Conus Communications
Network.

Earlier today, ground controllers used tracking stations scattered
around the world to receive information from the Tethered Satellite
which broke free from the shuttle on Sunday. Now in an orbit of 219 by
170 nautical miles, experiments on the satellite recorded emissions of
electrons from Columbia's cargo bay, almost half a world away,
scientists reported. Although a variety of ground tracking sites
received transmissions from the satellite, commands were sent to the
satellite only from a ground station at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston. The opportunities for ground contact with the satellite for
today are finished, but controllers plan to attempt further
communications with the satellite during orbital passes tomorrow.

Flight controllers reported that the satellite is orbiting the Earth
in a different configuration that it was in at the time its tether
broke, with its thruster fuel depleted and no ability to receive
commands to deploy its twin science booms. But science officials said
valuable data is being received from TSS regarding the
characterization of electromagnetic fields in low Earth orbit. The
satellite, dragging about 12 miles of tether, is expected to begin to
drop out of orbit sometime in the next 30 days and will burn up in the
atmosphere during its reentry.

Columbia, meanwhile, is functioning to near perfection, with no
mechanical problems of concern to flight controllers. The shuttle is
in a 184 by 177 statute mile orbit of Earth.

The JSC newsroom is now closed and will reopen at 6 a.m. Central time
on Wednesday.

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