yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (02/22/90)
Ed Campion Headquarters, Washington, D.C. February 21 , 1990 10 A.M. EST LAUNCH ADVISORY: NEW TARGET LAUNCH DATE SET FOR HST MISSION NASA Shuttle managers today announced that the target launch date for Shuttle Mission STS-31 has been moved from April 18th to no earlier than April 12, 1990. The primary objective of the STS-31 mission will be the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) using the orbiter Discovery. The original target date for STS-31 had been March 26th, but in January, NASA officials concluded that the righthand aft motor segment needed to be replaced and set April 18th as the revised target date. The processing of the segment changeout along with overall mission preparations have been completed well ahead of schedule, thus permitting the 6 day advancement in the target launch date. "A lot of dedicated NASA and contractor employees were faced with a big challenge early this year and not only did they meet the challenge, they surpassed it" said Space Shuttle Director Robert Crippen. "The new launch date permits adequate time for completing the work associated with the HST mission and also has time built in for the team to work issues which might come up before launch day." The official launch date for STS-31 will be set at the flight readiness review meeting conducted at the Kennedy Space Center approximately 2 weeks before launch. Should launch take place on April 12th, the launch opportunity window would open at 9:21 A.M. EST. All Shuttle flights after STS-31 keep the same target dates as shown in the January 1990 Mixed Fleet Manifest.