GO TO THE PREVIOUS SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORTGO TO THE NEXT SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1996 (11:35 AM EST) KSC Public Affairs Contact: Bruce Buckingham (fax 407-867-2692) E-mail: Bruce.Buckingham-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov MISSION: STS-80 -- WAKE SHIELD FACILITY-3 (image) and ORFEUS-SPAS-2 (image) Flight Day 18 VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102 LOCATION: in orbit LAUNCH DATE/TIME: November 19 at 2:55.47 p.m. EST (new) TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Dec. 7 at 6:49 a.m. EST (new) MISSION DURATION: 17 days, 15 hours, 54 minutes CREW: Cockrell, Rominger, Jernigan, Jones, Musgrave ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 219 statute miles/28.45 degrees NOTE: For the second day in a row, mission managers waved-off both KSC landing opportunities due to unfavorable weather forecasts at the landing site. Today's concerns were associated with dense fog at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility. Managers also waved the landing opportunities at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB), CA, today, due to high winds. The crew of Columbia will now focus on landing at KSC tomorrow on the first of two opportunities at 6:49 a.m. EST. A landing tomorrow on the first KSC opportunity will set a new Space Shuttle endurance record of 17 days, 15 hours, 54 minutes. (The previous record was set on mission STS-78 at 16 days, 21 hours, 48 minutes.) The last time a Shuttle landing was waved-off two days in a row was on mission STS-57 in 1993. The only time prior to that was mission 61-C in January 1986. Tomorrow's forecast at KSC calls for possible low clouds and fog. Weather at EAFB is expected to be generally favorable. Landing opportunities on Saturday, Dec. 7, are: Landing Orbit Deorbit burn Landing KSC 279 5:43 a.m. 6:49 a.m. KSC 280 7:21 a.m. 8:26 a.m. EAFB 281 8:49 a.m. 9:54 a.m. MISSION: STS-81 -- 5th MIR DOCKING & SPACEHAB DM (image) VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104 LOCATION: Vehicle Assembly Building TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Jan. 12, 1997 at about 4:17 a.m. (EST) LAUNCH WINDOW: 7-10 minutes TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Jan. 22, 1997 at about 7:52 a.m. MISSION DURATION: 10 days, 3 hours, 30 minutes CREW: Baker, Jett, Grunsfeld, Ivins, Wisoff, Linenger (up) Blaha (down) ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 184 statute miles/51.6 degrees NOTE: Atlantis rolled to the Vehicle Assembly Building last night with first motion out of the OPF occurring at about 9 p.m. This morning, the orbiter was lifted to the vertical position. Mating to the external tank will take place tonight. This weekend, the Shuttle interface verification test will be used to verify all components between the orbiter, external tank and solid rocket boosters are properly configured for launch. Rollout to Pad 39B is set for 7 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10. KEY STS-81 OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only): Roll out Shuttle Atlantis to Pad 39B (7 a.m. Dec. 10) Hot fire all three auxiliary power units (Dec. 10-11) Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (Dec. 16-17) MISSION: STS-82 -- HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SERVICING MISSION-2 VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103 LOCATION: Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2 TARGET LAUNCH DATE/TIME: February 13, 1997 at 2:59 a.m. LAUNCH WINDOW: 61 minutes TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: February 23, 1997 at 1:35 a.m. MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 22 hours CREW: Bowersox, Horowitz, Lee, Hawley, Harbaugh, Smith, Tanner ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 360 statute miles/28.45 degrees NOTE: Work is underway to prepare the orbiter for the scheduled Crew Equipment Interface Test tomorrow. The payload bay doors are scheduled to be closed Dec. 16. Stacking of the solid rocket boosters for mission STS-82 is complete. The external tank will be mated to the boosters early next week in the Vehicle Assembly Building. KEY STS-82 OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only): Crew Equipment Interface Test (Saturday) Mate external tank to solid rocket booster (Dec. 9) Close payload bay doors (Dec. 16)--end-- For automatic e-mail subscriptions to this daily Shuttle status report or KSC originated press releases, send an Internet electronic mail message to domo@news.ksc.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) type the words "subscribe shuttle-status", or "subscribe ksc-press-release" (do not use quotation marks). The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription. To remove your name from the list at any time, send an e-mail address to domo@news.ksc.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line), type (no quotes) "unsubscribe shuttle-status", or "unsubscribe ksc-press-release." Status reports and other NASA publications are available on the World Wide Web at: http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/kscpao.htm