STS-90 Day 5 Highlights

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On Tuesday, April 21, 1998, 6:00 a.m. CDT, STS-90 MCC Status Report # 8 reports:

A half day of science operations before enjoying some off duty time will be the plan of the day when Commander Rick Searfoss and his STS-90 crew are awakened later this morning to begin their fifth day in space.

Searfoss, Pilot Scott Altman along with Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Kay Hire and Dave Williams and the two Payload Specialists flying on Columbia -- Jay Buckey and Jim Pawelczyk -- will receive a wake up call from Mission Control at 6:59 a.m. Central.

Searfoss will begin his day with a check of the animal enclosure facilities being carried on the flight along with some Shuttle system housekeeping chores while Hire videotapes the aquarium unit being carried in the Spacelab and tends to the cell growth culture experiment known as the Bioreactor Demonstration System.

Altman, Linnehan, Williams, Buckey and Pawelczyk will all perform tests associated with the STS-90 Neurolab Vestibular Team's efforts to gain insight into the balance organs in the ear and all the connections that system has to the eyes, brain, and muscles in adapting to the weightless condition in space and then readapts to the gravity environment found on Earth.

The crew's afternoon period will be off duty time. Half day off periods are a normal part of long duration missions such as the two week plus Neurolab mission and are designed to allow the crew to stay well rested and operate at peak efficiency throughout the flight. They will begin a planned eight hour sleep period at 10:39 p.m.

On Tuesday, April 21, 1998, 6:00 p.m. CDT, STS-90 MCC Status Report # 9 reports:

The seven astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Columbia took the second half of the day off today after investigations using a rotating chair designed to study the close connection between inner ear balance mechanisms and eye movement.

Scheduled time off for crew members is a normal part of longer shuttle missions such as this two-week plus Neurolab flight, designed to help the crew stay well rested, mentally sharp and operating effectively. Several of the crew members integrated their regular exercise for the day into their off-duty time. The entire crew begins an eight-hour sleep shift at 10:39 p.m. CDT.

During the shortened work day, Commander Rick Searfoss made sure that Neurolab's small menagerie was in good shape, took care of some routine housekeeping chores and re-oriented the shuttle for a nozzle dump of excess supply and waste water. Pilot Scott Altman activated several Getaway Special (GAS) canister experiments in the cargo bay. Mission Specialist Kay Hire shot some videotape of the aquarium unit being carried in the Spacelab and tended to renal and bone marrow tissues being grown in the Bioreactor Demonstration System.

Payload Commander Rick Linnehan, Mission Specialist Dave Williams and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey and Jim Pawelczyk took turns operating and riding in a rotating chair called the Visual and Vestibular Integration System that scientists hope will help them learn more about how the nervous system rewires itself to account for the lack of gravity. The payload crew sent down television pictures of the spinning off-axis rotator and infrared camera pictures of each others eye movement during the rides.

Columbia continues to orbit the Earth at an altitude of between 160 and 180 miles with no significant systems problems. A small orbit adjustment burn is scheduled Wednesday to bring in an additional Florida landing opportunity at the end of the mission May 3 or 4.

The next STS-90 status report will be issued about 6 a.m. CDT Wednesday.

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