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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 1996 (2:23 PM EDT) LAUNCH DAY -- FLIGHT DAY 1 KSC Public Affairs Contact: Bruce Buckingham (fax 407-867-2692) E-mail: Bruce.Buckingham-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov MISSION: STS-78 -- LIFE AND MICROGRAVITY SPACELAB (LMS) VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102 LOCATION: Orbit OFFICIAL LAUNCH DATE/TIME: June 20 at 10:49 a.m. (EDT) TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: July 7 at about 8:51 a.m. MISSION DURATION: 16 days, 22 hours, 2 minutes CREW SIZE: 7 ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 173 statute miles/39 degrees NOTE: Launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia occurred on time today at 10:49 a.m. from KSC's Pad 39B. No technical issues were worked during the final phases of the countdown. Columbia is scheduled to remain in orbit for about 17 days and land back at Kennedy Space Center on July 7 at about 8:51 a.m. If mission duration remains the same, Columbia will break the duration record for the longest Space Shuttle mission. The solid rocket booster retrieval ships have reported that all booster components have been recovered and preparations are underway to return the twin boosters to Hangar AF by tomorrow afternoon. Also, initial post-launch assessments indicate minimal damage occurred at Pad 39B during launch. The crew of mission STS-78 are: Commander Tom Henricks; Pilot Kevin Kregel; Mission Specialists Richard Linnehan, Susan Helms and Charles Brady; and Payload Specialists Jean-Jacques Favier (French Space Agency) and Robert Brent Thirsk (Canadian Space Agency). Mission status reports are issued daily by Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX.-- 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."