yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (11/30/90)
This KSC Status Report was prepared at 10:00 a.m. Monday, November
19th.
At the NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air
Force Base, preparations are underway for the landing of the Space
Shuttle Atlantis this afternoon, scheduled for 4:48 p.m. Eastern
time. This is one orbit earlier than previously planned because of
an approaching cold front. The Shuttle Training Aircraft will be
making approaches to the Rogers Dry Lake Bed to assess the landing
conditions. Landing officials feel resonably sure that the weather
will permit a deorbit to occur this afternoon.
On Saturday, the STS-38 solid rocket boosters arrived at the
Hangar AF booster disassembly facility on Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station towed by the recovery ships. The initial inspections are
complete and nothing surprising has been found. The segments are
being disassembled for further routine inspections.
At Pad 39-A the crawler transporter is moving the mobile
launcher platform back to the Vehicle Assembly Building this morning.
At Launch Pad 39-B, preparations continue for the launch of the
Space Shuttle Columbia and its Astro astronomy payload. Today,
software is being loaded into Astro's mass memory unit, the camera on
the ultraviolet imaging telescope is being loaded with film, and the
broadband X-ray telescope is being serviced with liquid argon.
Meanwhile, at the perimeter of the pad, tankers are delivering
to the pair of large storage spheres the liquid hydrogen and liquid
oxygen propellants.
On the fixed service structure, the orbiter mid-body umbilical
will be connected to Columbia today and leak checked.
Over the weekend, the hydraullic re-test of main engine #1 was
completed on Saturday, servicing the auxillary power units with water
was completed, and some initial ordnance work was done on Sunday
evening.
On Discovery in its hangar at the orbiter processing facility,
powered-down electrical work is underway. A functional check is
scheduled for the door of the orbiter access hatch which will be
followed by cabin leak checks and other cabin functional testing.
In the Vehicle Assemlby Building, stacking of the solid rocket
boosters for Discovery's upcoming STS-39 mission is underway.
The KSC News Center will be open through the Atlantis landing
today and may be reached at 867-2468.
From the NASA Kennedy Space Center, this is George Diller.