KSC-97EC-1570 - USMP-4 final processing in SSPF before move to LC 39B 


United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are lifted
and placed into the payload canister at Kennedy Space Center. The
vertical tube in the center of the USMP-4 group of experiments 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. The USMP-4 will launch aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia
as part of the STS-87 mission, scheduled for launch Nov. 19.

 
                                               10/26/97