Following completion of a flight readiness review meeting today, NASA managers set Feb. 11, 1997 as the official launch date for NASA’s second Shuttle mission of the year.
The mission, designated STS-82, is the second in a series of planned servicing missions to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Following rendezvous with and retrieval of HST on the third day of the mission, four space walks on four successive days will take place as the astronauts remove and replace various HST components. Work performed on the telescope will significantly upgrade the scientific capabilities of HST and keep the telescope functioning smoothly until the next scheduled servicing mission in 1999.
The launch window on Feb. 11 opens at 3:56 a.m. EST and extends for 65 minutes. Discovery’s mission duration is planned for 9 days, 22 hours, 47 minutes. The STS-82 mission will conclude with Discovery returning home to the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 21 at about 2:43 a.m. EST.