yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (05/17/89)
This is the Kennedy Space Center Broadcast News Service prepared at
9:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 17th.
The Galileo spacecraft destined for the planet Jupiter has
arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, pulling in about 7 p.m. last
night aboard an environmentally controlled and cushioned truck
trailer. It was escorted to the SAEF-2 planetary spacecraft checkout
facility located in the KSC Industrial Area. The trailer is
currently in the facility's airlock being steam cleaned to prepare it
for moving into the cleanroom. Preparations will then begin for
offloading the spacecraft.
Meanwhile, the orbiter Atlantis which will carry Galileo into
space is in its hangar at the orbiter processing facility.
Preparations are underway for deconfiguration and deservicing from
the successful launch of Magellan. The orbiter has been jacked and
leveled and the crew hatch is now open. The ferry flight tail cone
is scheduled to be removed today. The environmental purge equipment
will also be hooked up to the aft, and preparations are also underway
for powering up the vehicle.
On Columbia, scheduled to be launched in August, routine pre-
flight orbiter preparations continue. Work has begun to install the
tires, the hatch cycle functional testing continues, as do the tests
on the waste management and containment system. Seven tiles were
bonded yesterday and 169 cavities remain. Preparations are underway
for hydraullic system activation this weekend to test the orbiter's
moveable flight controls.
In the Vehicle Assembly Building, closeouts of the solid rocket
booster field joints are in work and the final hookups of the solid
rocket booster electrical cabling continues. Also, in an adjacent
upper level test cell, the external tank is receiving final
prepartions for its mating with the boosters.
From the NASA Kennedy Space Center, this is George Diller.