STS-94
Report # 03 
Wednesday, July 2, 1997 - 5:30 p.m. CDT 
 
  The three blue team astronauts, Payload Commander Janice Voss,
Mission Specialist Mike Gernhardt and Payload Specialist Roger Crouch,
are studying the behavior of flame balls and soot as the Microgravity
Science Laboratory mission is in its first full day on orbit.

  These experiments will provide researchers with an improved
understanding of the combustion process and may lead to improvements
in combustion engines, increasing fuel efficiency and reducing
emissions.

  The seven-member crew will spend more than two weeks studying the
properties of combustion and the behavior of metals, materials and
fluids in the absence of gravity.  The astronauts are working 12-hour
shifts in two teams, providing around-the-clock support for science
operations.

  This morning, just before 7 a.m. central time, Mission Specialist
Don Thomas told the flight control team in Houston that he and his Red
Team crew mates, Commander Jim Halsell, Pilot Susan Still and Payload
Specialist Greg Linteris, could see the Mir spacecraft some 60 miles
distant from Columbia.

  Also this morning, Still performed some troubleshooting activities
with the Wireless Data Acquisition System (WDAS) experiment when it
experienced difficulty in communicating with its payload support
computer.  This is a proof of concept payload that uses wireless RF
signals to relay data from temperature sensors in the payload bay and
Spacelab module.

  The Red Team began a planned eight-hour sleep period shortly after
3:30 p.m. today.

  Voss, Gernhardt and Crouch also discussed the reflight of Columbia
and their science-gathering activities in an interview with the Fox
News Channel shortly after 5 p.m. today.

  The next STS-94 status report will be issued about 6 a.m. central
time Thursday.

###

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