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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1996 (10:59 AM EDT) LAUNCH - 1 DAY KSC Public Affairs Contact: Bruce Buckingham (fax 407-867-2692) E-mail: Bruce.Buckingham-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov MISSION: STS-79 -- 4th MIR DOCKING & SPACEHAB DM (image) All times are EDT VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104 (image) LOCATION: Pad 39A LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Sept. 16 at 4:54:03 a.m. EDT LAUNCH WINDOW: 7 minutes (4:54:03 - 5:01:02 a.m.) MIR DOCKING: Sept. 18 at 11:17 p.m. TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Sept. 26 at about 8:12 a.m. MISSION DURATION: 10 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes CREW: Readdy, Wilcutt, Akers, Blaha (up), Lucid (down), Apt, Walz ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 196-245 statute miles/51.6 degrees NOTE: The countdown for launch of Atlantis on mission STS-79 continues on schedule today. Launch remains set for Monday, Sept. 16 at 4:54 a.m. at the opening of a seven-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 11 a.m. today, the rotating service structure will be moved to launch position. Loading of the external tank with cryogenic propellants is scheduled to begin at about 7:30 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 7 p.m. Last night, operations to load experiments and equipment into the Spacehab double module were completed on time and the Spacehab was closed-out for flight at about midnight. The management team is working no hardware issues or concerns at this time. Air Force weather forecasters continue indicating a 30 percent probability of weather prohibiting launch on Monday. An upper level high pressure system will be located east of KSC over the Atlantic Ocean. The system will create light surface winds and provide generally favorable conditions for launch. The only concern is for a possible low cloud ceiling or fog. During Monday's seven-minute launch window, the winds at Pad A are expected to be from the southeast at 7 knots; temperature 76 degrees F; visibility 7 miles; humidity 77 percent; and clouds scattered at 2,000 feet and 15,000 feet and broken at 25,000 feet. No precipitation is in the forecast. The 24-hour and 48-hour delay forecast indicates a 40 percent chance of violation for both days. Today, the crew will be sleeping until about 6 p.m. When they are awakened they will spend about 6 hours preparing for tomorrow's early morning launch before being seated for their final pre-launch meal at midnight. They depart for the pad about 1:08 a.m. SUMMARY OF BUILT-IN HOLDS FOR STS-79 T-TIME LENGTH OF HOLD HOLD BEGINS HOLD ENDS T-27 hours 4 hours 4:00 p.m. Fri. 8:00 p.m. Fri. T-19 hours 4 hours 4:00 a.m. Sat. 8:00 a.m. Sat. T-11 hours 21 hours, 3 minutes 4:00 p.m. Sat. 1:03 p.m. Sun. T-6 hours 2 hours 6:03 p.m. Sun. 8:03 p.m. Sun. T-3 hours 2 hours 11:03 p.m. Sun. 1:03 a.m. Sun. T-20 minutes 10 minutes 3:43 a.m. Sun. 3:53 a.m. Sun. T-9 minutes about 40 minutes 4:04 a.m. Sun. 4:44 a.m. Sun. CREW FOR MISSION STS-79 Commander (CDR): Bill Readdy Pilot (PLT): Terry Wilcutt Mission Specialist (MS1): Jay Apt Mission Specialist (MS2): Tom Akers Mission Specialist (MS3): Carl Walz Mission Specialist (MS4): John Blaha (up) Mission Specialist (MS4): Shannon Lucid (down) SUMMARY OF STS-79 LAUNCH DAY CREW ACTIVITIES Sunday, Sept. 15 6:00 p.m. Wake up 6:30 p.m. Breakfast * 11:58 p.m. Lunch and crew photo Monday, Sept. 16 12:28 a.m. Weather briefing (CDR, PLT, MS2) 12:28 a.m. Don launch and entry suits (MS1, MS3, MS4) 12:38 a.m. Don launch and entry suits (CDR, PLT, MS2) * 12:50 a.m. Crew suiting photo * 1:08 a.m. Depart for launch pad 39A * 1:48 a.m. Arrive at white room and begin ingress * 3:03 a.m. Close crew hatch * 4:54 a.m. Launch * Televised events (times may vary slightly) All times Eastern--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