STS-87
Report # 28 
Wednesday, December 3, 1997 - 8:00 a.m. CST 
 
  A bonus excursion into the payload was conducted aboard Columbia
this morning to complete tasks originally planned for the mission's
first spacewalk.  Prior to the spacewalk, the crew used the Spartan
satellite, remaining securely attached to Columbia's mechanical arm,
as a laser target to prepare for future automatic spacecraft dockings.

  Winston Scott and Takao Doi switched their suits to battery power at
3:09 this morning signalling the start of their second spacewalk ,
planned to once again test a manual crane that will eventually make
its way to the International Space Station. The crane is designed to
help in moving components and tools more easily around the outside of
the station.  The two astronauts also watched as pilot Steve Lindsey
remotely piloted a unique, beachball-sized camera around the payload
bay to demonstrate its usefulness in providing an extra set of
'eyes' to perform remote inspections of the shuttle or station.

  The four-hour, fifty-nine-minute, forty-second spacewalk ended at
8:09 a.m. this morning.  Combined with the first spacewalk duration of
7 hours, 43 minutes, Scott and Doi completed 12 hours and 44 minutes
outside Columbia's crew cabin during the mission.

  The spacewalk included repeating part of the crane operations, but
instead of the large simulated battery for the station, the astronauts
worked with a smaller orbital replacement unit simulator which
represents small objects it will have to move during station assembly.

  The tests of the Aercam Sprint, the free-flying video camera, were
controlled by Lindsey via a joystick on Columbia's aft flight deck
during the spacewalk. Future versions of the unit will have an
autonomous capability to fly to a designated area and perform surveys.

  This mission's two spacewalks are the first EVAs ever performed from
Columbia, which has been mostly used as a carrier for Spacelab
missions that have not included spacewalks. The next status report
will be issued later today.

The next mission status report will be issued at 6 p.m. CST today.

###

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