rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (Roger Noe) (10/08/84)
Challenger suffered only minor damage from Friday's launch, apparently limited to some thermal tiles. The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite was deployed almost three hours later than planned Friday when its solar panels at first failed to open because of the cold. Sally Ride used the Canadarm to keep it in the sunlight awhile and it now appears healthy. It should reach its final orbit in about a week. The Shuttle Imaging Radars (SIRs) were activated and working properly but a Ku band antenna would not lock on to a data relay satellite for transmitting the information to Earth. Data was stored on high speed tape on board Challenger until the antenna was locked into position. Data will now be transferred to the satellite by using the whole orbiter to point the antenna. (Sounds to me a lot like 2001. This is the 13th shuttle flight, you know. Too bad it's not also Discovery.) There were a couple smaller problems with antennae in the cargo bay which were solved using the robot arm. Kathryn Sullivan and David Leestma (not Leetsma) have remotely transferred some hydrazine fuel between tanks in the cargo bay but their EVA will be delayed two days until Thursday. Landing is still scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Cape Canaveral but tropical depression Josephine is slowly moving toward Florida. -- Roger Noe ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe