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KENNEDY SPACE CENTERSPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1996 (12:21 PM EDT) FLIGHT DAY 10 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: Orbit OFFICIAL KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Sept. 16 at 4:54:49 a.m. EDT MIR DOCKING: Sept. 18 at 11:13 p.m. MIR UNDOCKING: Sept. 23 at 9:33 p.m. TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Sept. 26 at about 8:13 a.m. MISSION DURATION: 10 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes CREW: Readdy, Wilcutt, Akers, Blaha (up), Lucid (down), Apt, Walz (image) ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 196-245 statute miles/51.6 degrees NOTE: Landing is scheduled for KSC tomorrow at about 8:13 a.m. EDT with the deorbit burn set for about 7:09 a.m. Forecasters are more optimistic that KSC's landing day weather will be within guidelines (see STS-79 Landing release) for both opportunities. Two opportunities available at KSC tomorrow are at 8:13 a.m. and 9:49 a.m. If landing is not possible at KSC tomorrow, managers may decide to land Atlantis at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Two Edwards opportunities are at 9:41 a.m. and 11:17 a.m. EDT. The landing location will be determined in the hours prior to the deorbit burn. Returning with Atlantis will be Shannon Lucid, ending her record breaking six-month stay on the Mir space station. She and the rest of the STS-79 crew will remain in Florida Thursday night and return to Texas the day after landing. A post-mission briefing with members of the flight crew will be carried on NASA TV about four to six hours following touchdown. (Lucid will not participate in this briefing.) The crew of mission STS-79 are: Commander Bill Readdy; Pilot Terry Wilcutt; and Mission Specialists Jay Apt, Tom Akers, Carl Walz, John Blaha (up), and Shannon Lucid (down). Mission status reports are issued by Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX. MISSION: STS-80 -- WAKE SHIELD FACILITY-3 and ORFEUS-SPAS-2 (image) VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102 LOCATION: Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 TARGET LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Nov. 8 at 2:47 p.m. (EST) LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours, 30 minutes TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Nov. 24 at 7:31 a.m. MISSION DURATION: 16 days CREW: Cockrell, Rominger, Jernigan, Jones, Musgrave ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 218 statute miles/28.45 degrees NOTE: Inspections of the left hand orbital maneuvering system engine are complete. Preparations continue in work to close the payload bay doors later today. Close-outs of the SRBs will be finished today in the VAB and the external tank will be mated to the boosters tomorrow. KEY STS-80 OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only): Payload bay door closure (today) Mate external tank to solid rocket boosters in Vehicle Assembly Building (Sept. 26) Roll Columbia to Vehicle Assembly Building and mate with external tank (Oct. 7) Roll-out to Pad 39B (Oct. 14) NOTE: MISSION STS-81, ATLANTIS, IS TARGETED FOR LAUNCH ON JAN. 12, 1997. SHUTTLE PROCESSING STATUS WILL BE ISSUED FOLLOWING MISSION STS-79. 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: The forward reaction control system has been delivered to the OPF. Installation was delayed yesterday due to crane and sling problems. Preparations are now underway to install it tonight. Replacement of fuel cell no. 3 is also underway. KEY OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only): Begin installation of forward reaction control system (tonight) Install Space Shuttle main engines (Oct. 7-8) Install left hand orbital maneuvering system pod (Oct. 21)
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