STS-75 Mission Control Center 
Status Report # 16

Thursday, February 29, 1996, 5 p.m. CST

Columbia and the Tethered Satellite will pass within about 51 nautical
miles of each other at 11:17 p.m. central time today (approximately
7/08:59 MET), providing the astronauts a chance to glimpse the errant
spacecraft since it separated from the orbiter Sunday night.

Tonight's encounter with TSS marks the point of closest approach
for the two spacecraft before they begin to separate once again.
Currently, the orbiter trails TSS by a distance of about 1900 nautical
miles, with Columbia closing on the satellite at the rate of 340 nm
with each revolution of the Earth.  Whether or not the crew will be
able to see the satellite during the fly-by will depend on lighting
conditions and orbiter position.

 This afternoon, crewmembers discussed the progress of the flight
during an in-flight interview with two Philadelphia television
stations.  A second interview, at 6:08 p.m., is with the United States
Information Agency's Worldnet program.

Columbia is functioning normally, with no problems being tracked by
the flight control team as the Shuttle orbits the Earth every 90
minutes at an altitude of 180 statute miles.

The JSC newsroom will close at 5 p.m. today and will reopen at 6
a.m. Friday.