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KSC SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Tuesday, Sept. 12, 1995


Vehicle: OV-102/Columbia
Mission number: STS-73
Location: Pad 39-B
Primary payload:  USML-2
Astronauts: 7
Orbital altitude: 172 statute miles
Inclination: 39 degrees
Mission Duration: 15 days, 22 hours
Launch date:  Sept. 28   9:35 a.m. EDT
Landing date: Oct.  14   7:29 a.m.  EDT

STS-73 IN WORK TODAY:

· Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT)
· Preparations for storable propellant loading operations


STS-73 WORK SCHEDULED:

· Hypergolic propellant loading activities (Wednesday-Thursday)
· Flight Readiness Review   (Thursday)
· Auxiliary power unit hot fire (Friday)
· USML battery charging and experiment fit checks (next week)

STS-73 WORK COMPLETED:

· Helium signature leak test
· solid rocket booster nozzle repair and confidence work


Atlantis/OV-104 (STS-74) Russian MIR-2 Docking Module
OPF Bay 2

	Today the  IVT for the secondary payloads and the IMAX cargo
bay camera is being performed. The orbiter docking system (ODS)
electrical connections have been completed.  A functional check is
scheduled for Friday.  On Saturday, the astronauts will conduct the
Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT).  The Russian MIR-2 Docking
Module was installed into the payload bay of Atlantis late yesterday.

        The electrical connections are now being established. The Interface
Verification Test (IVT) to verify those connections is now scheduled
for Tuesday and Wednesday next week.  A state-of-health check will
follow on Thursday.

	Payload closeouts will begin on Sept. 25 and the payload bay
doors will be closed for flight on or about  Sept. 27.

	In other work, technicians continue installing heat shields
around the three main engines.  In the Vehicle Assembly Building, the
external tank was mated to the solid rocket boosters yesterday as
scheduled.


Discovery/OV-103
OPF Bay 1

	Work continues to deconfigure and deservice Discovery in
preparation for the ferry flight to Palmdale.  The ferry flight OMS
pods will be installed tomorrow, the payload bay doors closed on
Friday or Saturday, and the ferry flight tail cone installed next
week.  Discovery will be towed to the Shuttle Landing Facility on
Sept. 25 for mating to the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.  The ferry
flight is scheduled to begin on Sept. 26.


STS-69

	At NASA Hangar AF on Cape Canaveral Air Station, the solid
rocket booster nozzles were shipped to Thiokol this morning at 5:30
a.m. where detailed inspections will be performed.  At Hangar AF,
initial inspections of the case to nozzle joints did not reveal
anything of concern.  Disassembly of the remaining solid rocket
booster segments begins today.

	Malfunction analysis of Endeavour’s No. 2 fuel cell has been
completed and did not reveal the source of the problem which caused
the cell to be removed and replaced.  Because the replaced fuel cell
on orbit is functioning normally, a cooling system problem on the
orbiter is unlikely.  Engineers are looking into other possibilities
which might have caused the problem.



KSC 24-Hour Weather Summary
Shuttle Landing Facility
Today’s minimum temperature: 71 degrees
Yesterday’s maximum temperature: 87 degrees
Lowest  relative humidity: 62 percent
Peak wind speed/direction: 22 mph/E
Precipitation as of 7 a.m.: .49 inches
Total monthly precipitation: 2.91 inches
Barometric pressure at 7 a.m.: 30.07