alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (08/01/85)
The Challenger crew today plucked the plasma diagnostics package from the cargo bay with the RMS and moved it around the ship. The device is to take readings aimed at explaining the mysterious glowing phenomena seen around most shuttle flights to date. Later in the mission, the PDP will be released and then picked up again after that. Meanwhile, a $60 German-built telescope pointing system continued to fail, despite two attempts to fix it. The device locked onto the sun for brief periods but then lost track of it. The test is important, as the palate is to be used during the Halleys comet mission next spring. Three of the four telescopes on the platform are working individuallay; the fourth lost power and is not functioning.