yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (07/15/89)
Lisa Malone
Kennedy Space Center, Fla. July 13, 1989
News Release No. 65-89
NOTES TO EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:
STS-28 ROLLOUT AND COUNTDOWN TEST PLANNED FOR JULY 14 AND 18
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Space Shuttle workers are busy
preparing Columbia for the roll to launch pad 39-B Friday night,
July 14. Another significant step toward launch, the Terminal
Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT), is scheduled for Tuesday, July
18. This is a standard pre-launch test designed to serve as a dress
rehearsal of launch day for the flight crew and the KSC launch team.
Columbia will be transferred from the Vehicle Assembly Building
to Pad 39-B atop the crawler transporter with first motion currently
planned for no earlier than 8 p.m. Friday, contingent on the completion
of planned work. The 4.2 mile journey takes about eight hours to
complete. The mobile launcher platform will be lowered onto its pad
pedestals and technicians will begin hooking up power and cooled air
to the shuttle.
The simulated countdown will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, July 17,
when the STS-28 test team members report to their computer consoles
in Firing Room 3 in the Launch Control Center. Many of the
countdown events will be simulated and abbreviated for this test
which culminates with a simulated main engine cutoff at 11 a.m.
Tuesday, July 18.
Members of the STS-28 flight crew will arrive on Sunday,
July 16, at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility to participate in this
test. Mission STS-28 will be commanded by Brewster Shaw, and Richard
"Dick" Richards is the pilot. The three mission specialists are James
Adamson, David Leestma and Mark Brown.
While here, the flight crew will receive the usual training
in emergency escape procedures from the launch pad and will be
briefed on the status of the vehicle elements (the shuttle,
external tank and solid rocket boosters).
Events on the day of the test will mimic those of launch day.
The five-member flight crew will be awakened, eat breakfast,
don their partial pressure launch and entry suits, and depart
for the pad. Astronaut support personnel and members of the closeout
crew will assist the astronauts in getting aboard the orbiter Columbia.
The crew will perform voice checks and simulate events to configure
the cockpit and orbiter for launch.
After the test, the flight crew will return to Houston to
make final preparations for the mission. Here at KSC, final
launch preparations will be performed on the vehicle elements at
Launch Pad 39-B.
Since it last flew on mission 61-C, launched Jan. 12, 1986, about
250 major modifications have been incorporated into Columbia. The bulk of
those are the return-to-flight improvements and the remainder include
modifications already planned for Columbia.
After several movements between the Orbiter Processing Facility and
the Orbiter Modification and Refurbishment Facility, Columbia was
transferred to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Monday, July 3.
NASA plans to launch Columbia no earlier than the first week of
August on a dedicated Department of Defense mission. The official launch
date will be set at the Flight Readiness Review scheduled for July 25-26.
Columbia is scheduled to land on the dry lake bed at Edwards Air
Force Base, Calif., at the conclusion of the mission.