STS-90 Day 15 Highlights
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- On Friday, May 1, 1998, 6:00 a.m. CDT, STS-90 MCC Status Report # 29
reports:
- Columbia's astronauts were awakened at 3:55 a.m. CDT today to begin
their third week of studying how the brain and nervous system adapt to
the weightless environment of space.
- Overnight, flight controllers continued to work on possible
solutions to an apparent blockage in Columbia's waste water dump
line. Commander Rick Searfoss and Pilot Scott Altman yesterday
bypassed a clogged filter, routed a hose through a spare filter and
vented waste water overboard, but the blockage remained.
- Columbia's science crew will turn its attention to dexterity tests
and dissections of additional rat neonates and the ball-catch
experiment. Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Dave Williams and
Payload Specialist Jim Pawelczyk will dissect the newborn rats. The
dexterity test will test the response of young rats as they are tilted
and turned while walking and climbing on a special apparatus with
various surfaces. Later, all four payload crew members will repeat
the ball-catch experiment. This experiment studies the ability of the
central nervous system to accept and interpret new stimuli in
space. The astronauts have performed this test at various points in
the mission so scientists can compare their responses as their bodies
adapt to weightlessness.
- Mission Specialist Kay Hire will deactivate the Biotechnology
Demonstration System (BDS), which is being used to grow human kidney
cells and bone marrow cells in three dimensions. This afternoon, Hire
will be interviewed by WALA-TV and the Press Register, both of Mobile,
Ala. This event will be carried on NASA Television at 2:09 p.m. CDT.
- Hire, Commander Rick Searfoss and Pilot Scott Altman will continue
to hone their piloting skills in preparation for Sunday's planned
landing at the Kennedy Space Center.by once again using the Portable
In-flight Landing Operations Trainer (PILOT). Consisting of a laptop
computer and a joystick system, PILOT helps to maintain a high level
of proficiency for the end-of-mission approach and landing tasks
required to bring Columbia safely back to Earth after this long
mission.
- Altman also plans to replenish the air supply for the crickets
living in the Botany Experiment Incubator (BOTEX) unit onboard. This
experiment with crickets in various stages of development will provide
information about the relative importance of the environment and other
external stimuli such as gravity on nervous system
development. Linnehan, Searfoss and Hire also will carry out routine
husbandry tasks for the rodents on board.
- The preliminary weather forecast at the Kennedy Space Center.on
Sunday looks favorable for a landing at 11:09 a.m. CDT.
- Columbia remains in a 151 x 131 nautical mile orbit, circling the
Earth every 90 minutes.
- On Friday, May 1, 1998, 6:00 p.m. CDT, STS-90 MCC Status Report # 30
reports:
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- Experiments on board Columbia are drawing to a close as the
astronauts prepare for a Sunday homecoming to the Kennedy Space
Center.
- Investigations measuring how the crew's eye-hand coordination,
motor coordination skills and pulmonary function were faring after 15
days in space are complete, with researchers on the ground reporting
they are very pleased with the amount and quality of data
collected. The astronauts now will begin stowing away much of the
experiment hardware in anticipation of their return to Earth.
- Today, engineers continued to review data and develop a plan for
managing waste water removal on Columbia after the line used to vent
excess water overboard became blocked. Late in the day, Mission
Control advised Commander Rick Searfoss that he will need to route a
line from the waste tank to a Contingency Waste Container (CWC)
tomorrow to offload about 95 pounds of waste water throughout the
course of the day. This will ensure that the tank's capacity will be
adequate to support as much as two additional days in orbit in the
event Columbia cannot land as planned due to weather conditions.
- The final of three behavioral sessions to determine the dexterity of
young rats who have developed their motor skills in space also was
completed today. The investigation studies the response of the
animals as they are tilted and turned while walking and climbing on
the surfaces.
- Hire, Commander Rick Searfoss and Pilot Scott Altman practiced with
the Portable In-flight Landing Operations Trainer (PILOT). Consisting
of a laptop computer and a joystick system, PILOT helps to maintain a
high level of proficiency for the end-of-mission approach and landing
tasks required to bring Columbia safely back to Earth.
- Preliminary weather forecasts at the Kennedy Space Center.on Sunday
look favorable for a landing at 11:09 a.m. CDT.
- Columbia remains in a 151 x 131 nautical mile orbit, circling the
Earth every 90 minutes.
- The next STS-90 status report will be issued about 6 a.m. Saturday
or as events warrant.
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