MISSION: STS-89 -- 8th MIR DOCKING & SPACEHAB DM

STS-89 images

• VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105
• LOCATION: Vehicle Assembly Building
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Jan. 20, 1998 at 10:31 p.m. EST (under review)
• LAUNCH WINDOW: 7-10 minutes
• MIR DOCKING DATE/TIME: Jan. 22 at about 9:43 p.m. EST
• MIR UNDOCKING DATE/TIME: Jan. 27 at about 12:08 p.m. EST
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Jan. 29, 1998 at 7:18 p.m. EST
• MISSION DURATION: 8 days, 20 hours and 47 minutes
• CREW: Wilcutt, Edwards, Dunbar, Anderson, Reilly, Sharipov, Thomas (up), Wolf (down)
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 160 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

NOTE: In the Vehicle Assembly Building, sanding operations on a thin layer of the STS-89 external tank foam insulation will conclude today and a walk-down inspection will follow later in the day. With a successful completion of the external tank work, Endeavour will roll out to launch pad 39A tomorrow beginning at 7 a.m. The additional work required in the VAB has NASA managers reassessing the target launch date. An official launch date is expected to be announced at the Flight Readiness Review, currently scheduled for Jan. 7.

Once the Shuttle arrives at the pad, Endeavour’s cargo bay doors will be opened and payload installation will follow this weekend.

STS-89 SCHEDULED OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only):

• Shuttle transferred to pad 39A (Dec. 19)
• SPACEHAB installed into orbiter (Dec. 20)
• Payload Interface Verification Test (Jan. 4-5)
• Flight Readiness Review (Jan. 7)
• Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (Jan. 9-10)

MISSION: STS-90 -- NEUROLAB

• VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102
• LOCATION: OPF bay 3
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: April 2, 1998 at 1:19 p.m.
• LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours, 30 minutes
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: April 18, l998 at 12:09 p.m.
• MISSION DURATION: 15 days, 21 hours, 50 minutes
• CREW: Searfoss, Atlman, Linnehan, Williams, Hire, Buckey, Pawelczyk
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 150 nautical miles/39 degrees

NOTE: Removal of the remote manipulator system cameras is complete and the STS-87 secondary payloads have been removed from Columbia’s midbody. Preparations are in work for radiator and payload bay door inspections. Functional tests on the forward reaction control system continue. Post-flight inspections of Columbia’s thermal protection system are complete and have revealed about 100 tiles that will be replaced because of damage sustained on the STS-87 flight. Tile samples are still being analyzed as part of an ongoing investigation into the cause of the abnormal amount of damage.

MISSION: STS-91 -- 9th MIR DOCKING & SPACEHAB-SM

• VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
• LOCATION: OPF bay 2
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: May 28 at 8:33 p.m.
• LAUNCH WINDOW: 7-10 minutes
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: June 7 at about 12:17 a.m.
• MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 3 hours, 44 minutes
• CREW: Precourt, Gorie, Lawrence, Chang-Diaz, Kavandi, Thomas (down)
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 160 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

NOTE: Functional tests on the orbiter maneuvering system continue on schedule. Fuel cell monitoring modifications continue. Water spray boiler servicing and body flap corrosion repairs also continue. Preparations are in work for aft flight deck reconfiguration and Modular Auxiliary Data System verifications. Technicians are preparing to configure Discovery for the holiday, downtime period.

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