yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (09/11/90)
Wednesday September 5, 1990 10:00 a.m. EDT
KSC SPACE SHUTTLE PROCESSING STATUS REPORT
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STS-35 -- Columbia (OV 102) - Pad 39-A
(Launch minus 1 day)
The countdown for Space Shuttle Mission STS-35 continues on
track this morning. No problems are being worked on the vehicle
or support equipment. Columbia remains scheduled for liftoff from
Pad 39-A at 1:20 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 6. The window on Thursday
lasts for 2 hours, 4 minutes.
Yesterday at the pad, following the servicing of the onboard
cryogenic tanks, the orbiter mid-body umbilical was demated and
retracted. Communication activations were completed and the
shuttle main engine service platform was removed. At 6:00 a.m.
this morning, the Rotating Service Structure was rotated to its
launch configuration in the park position.
Today, flight crew equipment and consumables will continue
to be stowed on the orbiter for the 10 day mission.
At 10:47 a.m. today, the countdown clock will come out of
its 13 hour, 47 minute built-in hold and proceed counting until
3:47 p.m. for a planned 1 hour hold at the T-6 hour mark. Shortly
before 2:00 p.m. today, the pad will be cleared of all personnel
and preparations finalized for the beginning of tanking.
Loading the external tank with super cold liquid hydrogen
and liquid oxygen will commence with chill down of the propellant
lines starting at 4:47 p.m. today. At about 5:00 p.m., liquid
hydrogen slow fill operations will begin, followed by slow fill
of liquid oxygen. At about 5:30 p.m., liquid hydrogen fast fill
is scheduled to begin and last for 3 hours. During tanking
operations, approximately 385,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and
about 143,000 gallons of liquid oxygen will be loaded into the
external tank.
Following tanking operations, the seven-member flight crew
will be awakened at 8:25 p.m. and eat a traditional
breakfast/dinner. They will then receive a weather briefing and
don flight equipment. At 10:05 p.m., the crew will depart the
Operations and Checkout Building and be driven to Pad 39-A. They
are scheduled to arrive in the "white room" at 10:35 p.m. and
begin entry into the orbiter Columbia.
STS-35 crew members are: Commander Vance Brand; Pilot Guy
Gardner; Mission Specialists Jeffrey Hoffman, John (Mike) Lounge,
and Robert Parker; and Payload Specialists Samuel Durrance and
Ronald Parise.
Weather forecasters continue to predict favorable weather
conditions for an early Thursday morning launch. There is only a
20 percent chance of violating launch constraints at launch time.
The temperature is expected to be 80 degrees, humidity 70
percent, and winds from the east at 10 knots, gusting to 15
knots. A frontal system will be located over the Florida
panhandle and an area of convergence will be located over South
Florida. The area between these two systems in Central Florida is
expected to be generally dry, but with some chance of rain
showers offshore. A Bermuda High centered in the Atlantic will
generate easterly winds. Rain is the most significant threat to
launch/RTLS on Thursday.
At the time of tanking this afternoon, there is only a
predicted 5 percent chance of violating lightning constraints.
STS-41 -- Discovery (OV 103) - Pad 39-B
The Space Shuttle Discovery was rolled out of the Vehicle
Assembly Building to Pad 39-B overnight. First motion occurred at
about 6:47 p.m. Tuesday. Following the 4.1-mile journey,
Discovery was hard down on the pad at 2:06 a.m. today.
The Rotating Service Structure will be placed around the
vehicle this morning for the launch of Columbia. Following
launch, the RSS will be retracted and workers will perform a hot
fire of the shuttle's auxiliary power units. Hot fire is
scheduled for 8:00 a.m. Thursday. Following this, the RSS will be
placed around the orbiter and the payload bay doors opened.
Technicians will continue monitoring the decrease in the
amount of freon in loop number 1 discovered yesterday. An
estimated 10 percent of the coolant has been lost since the
orbiter left the Orbiter Processing Facility. Once access is
gained to the payload bay late Thursday, workers will perform
sniff checks in hopes of finding the source of the freon leak.
The Ulysses spacecraft will be loaded into the payload bay
no earlier than Saturday.