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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1996 (12:07 PM EST)

LAUNCH MINUS 1 DAY

KSC Public Affairs Contact: Bruce Buckingham  (fax 407-867-2692)
E-mail: Bruce.Buckingham-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov


MISSION: STS-76 -- 3rd MIR DOCKING & SPACEHAB

VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104
LOCATION: Pad 39B
LAUNCH DATE/TIME: March 21 at about 3:35 a.m. EST
LAUNCH WINDOW: 10 minutes
MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 4 hours, 29 minutes
MIR DOCKING: March 22 at about 10:36 p.m.
BEGIN SIX HOUR SPACEWALK: March 26 at about 2:10 a.m.
MIR UNDOCKING: March 27 at about 9:09 p.m.
TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: March 30 at about 8:04 a.m. EST
CREW SIZE: 6 up -- 5 down
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 184 statute miles/51.6 degrees

NOTE: The countdown for launch of Atlantis on mission STS-76 continues on 
schedule today. Launch remains set for Thursday, March 21, at 3:35 a.m. at 
the opening of a 10-minute window. The exact time of launch will be 
announced about 90 minutes prior to lift-off, following final computation of 
the location of the Mir space station.

     The orbiter's mid-body umbilical unit was demated and retracted into 
the fixed service structure yesterday. At about 10 a.m. today, the rotating 
service structure was moved to launch position. Loading of the external tank 
with cryogenic propellants is scheduled to begin at about 6:15 p.m. tonight. 
Prior to cryogenic loading operations, the Mission Management Team will meet 
to discuss tomorrow's launch weather outlook. A final decision to proceed 
with operations is expected at about 6 p.m. Also, the solid rocket booster 
recovery ships were not deployed as scheduled due to high seas in the 
recovery area. They will remain in port until launch time.

     During preparations to load middeck locker experiments aboard Atlantis, 
12 of 300 protein crystal growth samples from an experiment sponsored by the 
University of California were found to have mistakenly been loaded with 
wrong chemicals prior to delivery to NASA. The 12 samples have been removed 
from the experiment and will not fly. The other samples will be loaded 
aboard Atlantis this afternoon.

     Air Force weather forecasters continue indicating an 80 percent 
probability of weather prohibiting launch on Thursday. The primary concern 
is for high winds violating RTLS cross-wind constraints at the Shuttle 
Landing Facility.

     During Thursday's 10-minute launch window, the winds at Pad B are 
expected to be from the west-northwest at 18-29 knots; temperature 43 
degrees F; visibility 7 miles; humidity 60 percent; and clouds scattered to 
broken at 2,000 feet. The 24-hour and 48-hour delay forecast is better with 
only a 20 percent chance of violation for both days.


CREW FOR MISSION STS-76

Commander (CDR):                Kevin Chilton
Pilot (PLT):                    Richard Searfoss
Mission Specialist (MS1): 	Ronald Sega
Mission Specialist (MS2): 	Rich Clifford
Mission Specialist (MS3):	Linda Godwin
Mission Specialist (MS4): 	Shannon Lucid


SUMMARY OF STS-76 LAUNCH DAY CREW ACTIVITIES

Wednesday, March 20

   4:30 p.m.   Wake up
   5:00 p.m.   Breakfast
* 10:40 p.m.   Lunch and crew photo
  11:10 p.m.   Weather briefing (CDR, PLT, MS2)
  11:10 p.m.   Don launch and entry suits (MS1, MS3, MS4)
  11:20 p.m.   Don launch and entry suits (CDR, PLT, MS2)
* 11:35 p.m.   Crew suiting photo
* 11:50 p.m.   Depart for launch pad 39B

Thursday, March 21

* 12:20 a.m.   Arrive at white room and begin ingress
*  1:35 a.m.   Close crew hatch
*  3:35 a.m.   Launch

* Televised events (times may vary slightly)
All times Eastern