ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr) (06/10/91)
MISSION CONTROL CENTER Status Report #8 Flight Day 5 Sunday, June 8, 1991 -- 5 a.m. CDT The Space Shuttle Columbia's crew was awakened at 4:20 a.m. CDT for their fifth day in space to a tune performed by Mr. Raffi, a childrens' music performer. Good morning greetings from crew members' children followed and the message ended with "Somewhere Out There" from the animated movie "An American Tail." Following the wake-ups, a special message was sent to Payload Specialist Drew Gaffney on the occasion of his 45th birthday today. Several of the crew members' children passed along their well wishes before singing "Happy Birthday." On the ground, flight controllers report consumable management has been successful and crew members have enough power in reserve for a fully-powered day of Spacelab activities on Flight Day 7. Originally that day was planned as a partial or un-powered day in the Spacelab module. Overnight, the crew received a link error message for the Spacelab Experiment Computer Operating System at about 9:05 p.m. CDT. Commander Bryan O'Connor and flight controllers worked a troubleshooting procedure and recovered the computer within 10 minutes. ECOS activates, controls and monitors payload operations and provides experiment data acquisition and handling. Flight controllers are working on plans for the late deactivation of the Spacelab module so a crew member can stay in the module to observe the paylad bay door closing during the deorbit preparations. The crew was notified Saturday that a spacewalk will not be required in order to safely close the payload bay doors for the return home June 14. Discussion of a possible extravehicular activity arose when the crew and flight controllers noticed the payload bay door's environmental seal had come detached from its place at the top of the aft bulkhead early in the flight. Crew members will have a busy day as they continue with their medical investigations. Among today's activities are body mass measurement operations, pulmonary function testing, echocardiograph operations, cardiovascular operations, a rodent health check and troubleshooting the Gas Analyzer Mass Spectrometer 2. -- Eric Behr, Illinois State University, Mathematics Department Internet: ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu Bitnet: ebehr@ilstu