STS-77 Mission Control Center 
Status Report 6

Tuesday, May 21, 1996 4 p.m. CDT

Endeavour's third day in space was highlighted by the successful
retrieval of the Spartan- 207 satellite and its complement of data
from Monday's studies with the Inflatable Antenna Experiment.

As Commander John Casper eased Endeavour within 35 feet of the
Spartan, Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau captured the satellite with
the Shuttle's robot arm at about 9:53 a.m. central time with
Endeavour 176 statute miles above New Guinea. Before berthing Spartan
back in Endeavour's payload bay, the astronauts conducted a video
and photographic survey of the satellite attached to the robot arm.

Inflatable Antenna Experiment investigators will not have an
opportunity to review the data stored on Spartan until after Endeavour
lands next week. The IAE itself remains in orbit and is now predicted
to reenter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up by about 4 a.m.
central time Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the crew continued work with the variety of experiments
housed in the Spacehab module, including some troubleshooting of the
Fluid Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, a soft-drink dispenser designed
to investigate the mixture of fluid and gas in weightlessness. The
troubleshooting was not completed, however, before the crew's day
ended.

Early Wednesday morning, Mission Specialist Mario Runco will deploy
the PAMS-STU satellite from its canister in Endeavour's payload
bay.  This investigation will demonstrate the passive stabilization of
a small satellite using aerodynamic stabilization and magnetic
damping, rather than propellant.  The PAMS-STU satellite will not be
retrieved by Endeavour, but Commander John Casper and Pilot Curt Brown
will maneuver the orbiter to within 2000 feet of the satellite during
three separate stationkeeping exercises to take precise measurements
of its stability and to observe if its behavior matches the predicted
models.

Endeavour is currently in a 176-mile high circular orbit, completing
one revolution of Earth every 90 minutes. The crew will receive a
wake-up call from Mission Control at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The JSC Newsroom will remain open around the clock during the flight
of Endeavour.