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.