STS-78 Day 11 Highlights

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On Sunday, June 30, 1996, 7:30 a.m. CDT, STS-78 MCC Status Report # 21 reports:

Columbia's laboratory research is continuing smoothly, and the crew will have a half-day off duty this afternoon, the second and final such half-day break for the astronauts.

The astronauts will also conduct a news conference at 9:39 a.m. CDT to discuss the progress of the international mission with media from the United States, Canada and Europe.

The crew was awakened for an eleventh day in orbit at 1:29 a.m. to the sounds of "Les Murs De Poussiere" ("Dusty Walls"), as performed by French entertainer Francis Cabrel, in honor of French Payload Specialist Jean-Jacques Favier.

Columbia continues to operate flawlessly 168 statute miles above the Earth, providing a stable platform for the ongoing scientific research in the Spacelab science module. Shuttle managers have extended the mission by one day to allow time for additional research work, and landing is now planned for July 7 at the Kennedy Space Center. An on-time landing would make STS-78 the longest shuttle flight ever, surpassing the previous shuttle mission duration record by about seven hours.

On Sunday, June 30, 1996, 12:00 p.m. CDT, STS-78 Payload Status Report # 11 reports: (MET 010/02:11:00)

The crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia took an opportunity during a 30-minute news conference today to send out its prayers and sympathies to the families and friends of the U.S. servicemembers killed and injured in the bombing of the military dormitory in Saudi Arabia last week.

Mission Commander Tom Henricks, an astronaut and Air Force colonel, passed along the crew's sentiments as he and fellow crew members fielded questions from reporters at NASA locations across the United States and press rooms in France and Canada.

During the press conference which began at 9:39 a.m. CDT, the crew also explained the relevance of the experiments conducted aboard the Life Sciences and Microgravity mission, and praised support crews and researchers on Earth who are involved in the mission. Payload Specialist Dr. Robert Thirsk told Canadian journalists of how the research will not only benefit astronauts as they conduct long-term space missions, but also people on Earth. Some of the research will aid studies on osteoporosis and the affects steroids have on bones, and also may help doctors on Earth develop treatments for muscle diseases like muscular dystrophy, Thirsk told reporters in Toronto. "The findings will make a contribution to a further understanding, countermeasures and rehabilitative programs for not only astronauts but also for people in hospitals on Earth," Thirsk said.

Joking with reporters that he and fellow "spaceflight rookies" Dr. Charles Brady, Dr. Jean-Jacques Favier and Thirsk "were the experiments," Mission Specialist Richard Linnehan also told reporters this mission marked the first time such extensive studies of bone and muscle loss in space have been done. "With the information we can figure better ways to keep people in space healthier and fight off muscle and bone degeneration, and also use the information on Earth," he said.

Pilot Kevin Kregel also praised the video teleconferencing system being used for the first time on a Shuttle mission. "The video conferencing has really been outstanding," Kregel said. "We used it to fix the Bubble, Drop and Particle Unit experiment, and it made fixes a lot easier as opposed to sending up the message and trying to interpret the fix on paper." Kregel also made mention of the video system's morale-boosting properties, especially with regard to the family teleconferences scheduled throughout the mission.

Once the press conference was complete, the crew took its second half day off during the mission. Crew members used the about 4 1/2-hour break to relax and complete their second series of 15-minute private video conference calls with their families since the mission began. The half-day breaks have been deliberately scheduled throughout the mission to help the crew maintain a high level of productivity. In fact, information from the on-going physiology and mental fatigue studies crew members have been conducting will seek to validate or possibly adapt later space mission work schedules for peak performance.

In other microgravity experiments, this morning Favier and Payload Commander Susan Helms harvested four of the 20 Loblolly pine seedlings flown aboard the Shuttle and placed them into a chemical fixative while the procedure was photographed and recorded on video for researchers on Earth. The fixative halted the seedlings' growth to capture their composition in a moment in time.

Earlier in the mission the seedlings were bent to a 90- degree angle and placed in the Plant Growth Facility. The seedling experiment studies the effect of microgravity on the formation of reaction wood, which forms when trees growing on Earth bend and then gradually straighten. Plans call for the crew members to place four more seedlings into the fixative in two to four days, while the remaining 12 seedlings will be allowed to grow throughout the mission's duration.

Mission Specialist Dr. Richard Linnehan performed modifications to the shoulder straps on the respitrace suit today to adjust its fit for all crew members. The suit, worn when crew members participate in the Astronaut Lung Function Experiment, is a vest-like garment equipped with electrodes that help monitor rib cage and chest motions during breathing. The suit has not fit comfortably on all crew members during the mission, prompting engineers on the ground to develop the modification which was sent in message format to the crew early this morning.

Earlier today, Pilot Kevin Kregel removed the Straub experiment from the Bubble, Drop and Particle Unit. Designed by Dr. Johannes Straub of the Technical University in Munich, Germany, the study used small heaters of different shapes and sizes to examine heat transfer as a liquid refrigerant approached the boiling point. This heat transfer research, which also was conducted on the Shuttle in 1994, will help with the design of energy conservation systems, including cooling systems used with high-powered electronic devices such as computer chips.

After removing the Straub experiment, Kregel and Shuttle Commander Tom Henricks placed the second of two experiments developed by Dr. Dudley Saville of Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., into the Bubble, Drop and Particle Unit. The first experiment was completed Saturday. Both experiments examine the shape changes which occur in a fluid bridge suspended between two electrodes. The research may find application in industrial processes where control of a liquid column or spray is important, such as with ink-jet printing or polymer fiber spinning.

Even though the crew members took time off this afternoon from their busy schedule, many Life Science and Microgravity experiments will continue this afternoon and overnight, controlled and tracked by researchers at the Marshall Space Flight Center and at primary investigation sites in Europe.

An experiment studying the formation of a ternary, or three- component, compound as alloys are melted and then solidified will continue in the Advanced Gradient Heating Facility. The second Saville experiment in the Bubble, Drop and Particle Unit will also run throughout the day as ground-based researchers manipulate the fluid columns. Finally protein crystals continue to grow unattended, and the nearby Microgravity Measurement Assembly continues to measure the surrounding microgravity environment in the Spacelab module.

Crew members will be awakened at a little after 1 a.m. CDT Monday to resume the home stretch of their record-breaking scientific mission. Columbia is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center.one week from today.

On Sunday, June 30, 1996, 5:30 p.m. CDT, STS-78 MCC Status Report # 22 reports:

Work in the Spacelab module this morning and a well deserved half-day off for Columbia's astronauts in the afternoon, brought to a close the eleventh flight day of the STS-78 mission. The day was divided by the traditional crew news conference this morning in which all seven astronauts participated.

Routinely during long-duration Space Shuttle flights crew members are given two half days off to relax away from the science work ongoing in the Spacelab. Telescience -- or remotely operated experimentation from the ground -- continued, however, while the crew rested today.

The crew was asked about various aspects of the mission by reporters during the news conference that began at 9:39 this morning. News media from the U.S., Canada and France asked about fatigue, life in a laboratory environment during long periods and whether there were noticeable changes in their bodies thus far in the mission.

Late this afternoon, crew members sent a short video clip to the ground of the full moon as seen from orbit. Tonight marks the second full moon of the month, commonly called a 'blue moon.' Simultaneously with the downlink video, Mission Control uplinked the song 'Blue Moon' by The Marcels.

The crew began an eight hour sleep period at 5:04 this afternoon and is scheduled to be awakened by Mission Control at 1:04 Monday morning to begin the twelfth flight day of what is now planned to be the longest Shuttle mission to date.

No systems problems aboard Columbia means the orbiter is continuing to provide a stable platform for the science investigations that continue in the Spacelab even as the crew sleeps. At an altitude of 167 miles, the spacecraft is circling the Earth every 90 minutes providing the crew with views of an orbital sunrise and sunset 16 times each day.

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