KSC-97EC-1568 - USMP-4 final processing in SSPF before move to LC 39B 


United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are lifted
atop the white triangular Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure
at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) before placement into the payload
canister. The vertical tube in the center of the photo is the Advanced
Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF), which will be
used by researchers to study the solidification of semiconductor
materials in microgravity.  Scientists will be able to better
understand how microgravity influences the solidification process of
these materials and develop better methods for controlling that
process during future Space flights and Earth-based production. To its
left is a horizontal white tube known as MEPHISTO, the French acronym
for a cooperative American-French investigation of the fundamentals of
crystal growth.  The USMP-4 will launch aboard the Space Shuttle
Columbia as part of the STS-87 mission, scheduled for launch Nov. 19.

 
                                               10/29/97