khayo@sonia.math.ucla.edu (Eric Behr) (06/23/88)
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NASA BEGINS GROUND SYSTEM TEST OF HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
June 20, 1988
RELEASE: 88-81
A 5-and-one/half day ground system test of NASA's Hubble
Space Telescope (HST) -- one of the most comprehensive tests ever
undertaken -- began this morning at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, Md.
The HST is scheduled to be carried into space on board the
Space Shuttle Discovery on June 1, 1989. When placed in orbit,
the HST will allow astronomers to observe the universe with
clarity many times greater than the most powerful ground-based
telescope.
The fourth in a series of ground system tests (GST-4), this
test simulates almost a week of space flight operations and
involves direct communication with the HST located in a clean
room at the Lockheed Space and Missile Company, Sunnyvale, Calif.
GST-4 will be a "full-up test" involving the spacecraft's
systems and five of its scientific instruments, reported Ron
Felice, Goddard's deputy project manager of flight operations for
HST.
"This is the first time we have operated the spacecraft for
this period of time and at this level of sophistication," said
Felice. "GST-4 is an important test for us. Operating each of
its instruments in various operational modes will assure us that
we are capable of conducting the science part of the mission."
From the moment controllers in the Space Telescope
Operations Control Center (STOCC) at Goddard issue the first
command to the HST, the facility will be in 24-hour contact with
the spacecraft until the test is completed.
Using a science mission specification schedule developed by
the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore, Md.,
the STOCC will generate and transmit commands to the spacecraft
over ground-based communication lines. Telemetry from the HST's
instruments will be transmitted back to Goddard for processing
and then forwarded to the STScI for science data interpretion.
The Goddard Space Flight Center manages the HST's operations
and observations. It also manages the STScI, operated under
contract by the Association of Universities for Research in
Astronomy Inc. Additionally, Goddard manages five of HST's six
science instruments. HST is a cooperative project with the
European Space Agency.
The six scientific instruments the HST will carry are: wide
field and planetary camera, faint object spectrograph, high speed
photometer, high resolution spectrograph, faint object camera and
Fine-guidance astrometer. The faint object camera was provided
by the European Space Agency.
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SOLID PROPULSION INTEGRITY PROGRAM CONTRACTOR SELECTED, 6/21/88
RELEASE: 88-82
June 21, 1988
NASA announced today that it will negotiate a contract with
the Hercules Aerospace Co., Magna, Utah, to improve the nozzles
of solid-fueled rocket motors.
The work is part of the agency's Solid Propulsion Integrity
Program. The objective of the program is to increase the success
rate of solid-fueled rocket motors by improving basic engineering
in such areas as material characteristics, design analysis,
fabrication and assembly processes and production evaluation and
verification.
The value of the contract is expected to be approximately
$12.5 million, according to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center,
Huntsville, Ala., which announced the selection.
The program originated from joint NASA-Department of
Defense-industry studies which identified critical shortfalls in
the U.S. engineering technology base for solid-fueled rocket
motors. Proposals for a Solid Proplusion Intregrity Program
bondline work package are being evaluated for award later this
summer. This represents NASA's contribution to the tripartite
effort.
NASA engineers managing the program expect to improve
confidence in solid rocket motor launch systems by establishing
urgently needed engineering tools, techniques and data bases
specifically applicable to the current civil and military family
of solid-fueled rocket motors.
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ORBITER DISCOVERY ROLLS OVER TO THE VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING, 6/21/88
KSC Release No. 35-88
June 21, 1988
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- A visible step leading to NASA's
goal of launching the next Space Shuttle in August was
accomplished today when the Orbiter Discovery was moved from its
processing hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
Discovery has been in the Orbiter Processing Facility
undergoing extensive modifications and flight preparations since
Oct. 30, 1986. Over 200 hundred modifications have been
incorporated into Discovery's systems - many of which were
accomplished during a six-month powered down period from February
to August 1987. The orbiter was powered up Aug. 3, 1987 to
checkout the electrical systems. Processing for the STS-26
mission began September 1987.
"Preparing Discovery for the upcoming mission has been an
extraordinary challenge. Basically, every component of Discovery
has been recertified for flight and the effort by the processing
teams has been stupendous," said Tip Talone Discovery's flow
director.
While in the VAB, Discovery will be connected to the
external tank and solid rocket boosters, which are already bolted
to the mobile launcher platform. A Shuttle Interface Test will be
conducted in the next few days to verify the mechanical and
electrical connections between the assembled vehicle elements.
Next week, the STS-26 vehicle stack will be rolled to Launch
Pad 39-B where flight preparations will continue through launch.
Launch of Discovery on the STS-26 mission is planned for
late August with a five-member veteran shuttle crew. The primary
objective of the four-day mission is to deploy NASA's Tracking
and Data Relay Satellite. The mission will culminate with a
landing at the Dryden Flight Research Facilty Edwards, Calif.
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Eric