yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (04/27/89)
KSC SPACE SHUTTLE PROCESSING REPORT - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 1989 AFTERNOON STATUS STS-30 - ATLANTIS (0V 104) - PAD 39-B Today, workers completed loading liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen reactants into the orbiter's onboard storage tanks at about 3:40 p.m., and the pad has been reopened for normal work. These propellants are used by the orbiter's fuel cells to produce electricity for the orbiter during flight. The countdown entered its second built-in hold at 4 p.m. today at the T minus 19-hour mark. The count will resume at midnight tonight and the orbiter's communications systems will be activated and checked out with mission controllers in Houston. The stowable mission specialists seats will be installed in the crew cabin early in the morning along with other flight crew equipment. The launch team will close out the tail service masts on the launch platform. These masts are used in delivering the propellant from the ground to the external tank during propellant loading which occurs several hours prior to launch. At 8 a.m. tomorrow, at T minus 11 hours, the countdown will enter the longest of the seven holds -- 15 hours, 34 minutes -- and will resume at 11:34 p.m. During the hold, the launch team will activate and warm up the orbiter's inertial measurement units and install film in over 100 cameras at the pad. Another activity routinely performed as the countdown resumes is retraction of the Rotating Service Structure. However, schedulers are planning to move the RSS back to the launch position earlier tomorrow evening as soon as access to the vehicle is no longer needed. An exact time will be set tomorrow morning. All activities in the countdown have been running smoothly and right on schedule since it began at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Yesterday, the Magellan spacecraft was closed out for flight and the payload bay doors were closed at about 10:50 p.m. last night. The Fluids Experiment Apparatus experiment was stowed in one of the lockers in the orbiter's mid deck last night. Weather forecasts are good for the time of launch. Winds are forecast to be coming from the east to southeast 10 to 15 knots. A single layer of scattered clouds is predicted at the 4,000 and 9,000 ft. levels and the temperature expected is 87 degrees. Since the five-member flight crew arrived at 5:30 p.m. yesterday they have performed fit checks of flight crew equipment and practiced flying in their T-38 jets. Tomorrow the crew will receive a status briefing on the vehicle, payload and weather. Launch of mission STS-30 is scheduled for April 28 at 2:24 p.m. (EDT) with a window of 23 minutes.