MISSION: STS-87 -- U.S. MICROGRAVITY PAYLOAD-4

STS-87 images

• VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102
• LOCATION: Pad 39B
• KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Nov. 19 at 2:46 p.m.
• LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours, 30 minutes
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Dec. 5 at about 7:20 a.m.
• MISSION DURATION: 15 days, 16 hours, 34 minutes
• CREW: Kregel, Lindsey, Scott, Chawla, Doi, Kadenyuk
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 150 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

NOTE: Preparations continue on schedule for the start of the STS-87 launch countdown on Sunday. Ordnance installation is complete and technicians successfully replaced a troubled mass memory unit yesterday. Aft compartment close-outs continue with aft door installation set for Saturday.

STS-87 SCHEDULED OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only):

• Aft engine compartment close-outs complete (Nov. 15)
• STS-87 crew arrives at KSC (Nov. 16 at about 3:30 p.m.)
• Launch countdown begins (Nov. 16 at 3 p.m.)
• Power reactant storage and distribution system loading (Nov. 17)
• Rotating Service Structure retracted (Nov. 18 at 9 p.m.)
• Loading external tank with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen begins (Nov. 19 at 6 a.m.)

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

STS-89 images

• VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105
• LOCATION: Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Jan. 15, 1998 at about 1:03 a.m.
• LAUNCH WINDOW: 7-10 minutes
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Jan. 24, 1998 at about 4:47 a.m.
• MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 3 hours, 44 minutes
• CREW: Wilcutt, Edwards, Dunbar, Anderson, Reilly, Sharipov, Thomas (up), Wolf (down)
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 160 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

NOTE: Tests on Endeavour's main landing gear are complete and brake system evaluations are under way. Preparations are on schedule for next week's Crew Equipment Interface Test. Global Positioning Satellite system wiring work continues and preparations for transfer-tunnel installation are in work. Internal/external airlock close-outs will proceed through the weekend. Main engine low pressure fuel pump checks are under way.

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

• Transfer-tunnel installation (Nov. 19)
• Crew compartment CEIT (Nov. 22)
• Payload bay door closure (Nov. 24)
• Orbiter transferred to VAB (Dec. 1)

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: Discovery's body flap will undergo corrosion repair starting today. Testing of the cryogenic controller No. 5 is complete and reinstallation and retesting is planned for today. Cycle tests on the external tank umbilical doors continue and evaluations of the flash evaporator system are in work. Replacement of window No. 6 is complete. Shuttle managers have decided to remove the orbiter's airlock to allow midbody access for fuel cell modifications. While the airlock is out it will undergo planned reconfiguration work for Discovery's Mir mission.

STS-91 SCHEDULED OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only):

• Reconfigure aft flight deck (Nov. 17)
• Main engine heat shield inspection (Nov. 20)

• VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104
• CURRENT LOCATION: En route to Palmdale, CA
• TARGET RETURN TO KSC: August 1998
• NEXT MISSION: STS-92 ISS-03-3A (3rd ISS flight)

NOTE: The orbiter Atlantis spent a second night in Oklahoma last night due to inclement weather conditions en route to Palmdale, CA. Following a weather briefing to ferry flight managers this morning, a decision was made to proceed with the ferry flight straight to Palmdale. The modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft took off from Tinker Air Force Base, OK at 10:48 a.m. EST on a southward route through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona headed for California. Cloud cover and rain were primary reasons for the ferry flight's extended stay in Oklahoma, but forecasters today predict favorable weather on the last leg of this cross-country journey. Atlantis will undergo about nine months of planned modifications upon arriving in Palmdale.

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