yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (12/13/90)
Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Headquarters Wednesday, December 12, 1990 Audio Service: 202/755-1788 1788 This is NASA Headline News for Wednesday, December 12, 1990 The STS-35 flight crew returned home to Houston yesterday. Their mission lasted 8 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes and 8 seconds, making it the 15th longest U.S. space mission and the third longest shuttle mission. Both previous long- duration shuttle flights were also on Columbia -- STS-9, the Spacelab 1 mission, and STS-32, the LDEF retrieval mission. All three Skylab missions were longer, as were Apollo 7, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 and the ASTP mission. Gemini 7 was also longer, lasting nearly 14 days . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * At Edwards Air Force Base, Kennedy Space Center shuttle turnaround crews had Columbia moved to the Mate-Demate Device by yesterday morning. An initial inspection of Columbia's tiles showed about 85 "dings" of various size. The turnaround crew expects to be able to begin the ferry flight back on Sunday morning. The flight plan includes a stopover at Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, with a landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC on Monday night. On the East Coast, in Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1, powered-up testing of Discovery was interrupted briefly yesterday when a power supply went down. Backup power was brought on line quickly, and testing resumed with no further incidents. Technicians are preparing for Discovery's main engine flight readiness test Friday. In OPF Bay 2, Atlantis is being prepared to have its main engines removed today. The first engine will be removed tonight, and the remaining two engines will be removed tomorrow. In the Vehicle Assembly Building, Solid Rocket Booster stacking for the STS-39 mission is nearing completion. The remaining two forward segments of both SRB units will be stacked in place by tomorrow. The VAB crew anticipates mating the external tank to the SRB stack by next Tuesday. They would like to have the tank mated prior to Columbia's move into the VAB. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Office of Space Flight monthly press briefing will take place tomorrow from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm EST. Dr. Bill Lenoir, Robert Crippen and Richard Kohrs will participate. The briefing will be local only; it will not be transmitted on NASA Select TV. The briefing will originate from the Building 10B teleconference center in Room 425. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Admiral Truly is delivering an address on NASA and science today at Kansas State University, Manhattan. The University hosts the Alfred M. Landon Lecture series, which Adm. Truly is participating in, and is also the recipient of a NASA grant for gravitational studies of cellular and developmental biology. Kansas State also has one of NASA's Centers for the Commercial Development of Space. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NASA Deputy J.R. Thompson will speak tomorrow to the Women in Aerospace at a luncheon hosted by them at the National Press Club. The luncheon will begin with a reception at 11:30 am at the Press Club at 14th and F Streets, downtown. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The secretaries from the Office of Safety and Mission Quality, Code Q, are sponsoring a holiday party for foster children. They are soliciting individual support from NASA Headquarters staff to help them purchase gifts and refreshments for the children and to staff the party, scheduled for Dec. 19. The contact for this benefit is Code Q secretary Margaret Vactor at 453-1930. Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV. All times are Eastern. **indicates a live program. Wednesday, 12/12/90 1:15 pm **Magellan at Venus report from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Thursday, 12/13/90 1:30 pm **Galileo at Earth report from JPL. All events and times may change without notice. This report is filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST. It is a service of Internal Communications Branch at NASA Headquarters. Contact: CREDMOND on NASAmail or at 202/453-8425. NASA Select TV: Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz.