MISSION: STS-96 -- 2nd U.S. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FLIGHT
SPACEHAB DOUBLE MODULE

• VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
• LOCATION: Vehicle Assembly Building
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: May 20, 1999 at 9:32 a.m. EDT
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: May 30, 1999 at 5:27 a.m. EDT
• LAUNCH WINDOW: 10 minutes
• ISS DOCKING DATE: May 22, 1999 at 4:01 a.m. EDT
• ISS UNDOCKING DATE: May 27, 1999 at 10:07 p.m. EDT
• MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 19 hours and 55 minutes
• CREW: Rominger, Husband, Ochoa, Jernigan, Barry, Payette, Tokarev
• ADDITIONAL PAYLOADS: ICC, STARSHINE, SVF AND IVHM
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 173 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

NOTE: Shuttle orbiter Discovery rolled from Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 to the Vehicle Assembly Building today at about noon. Tonight, the vehicle will be lifted into VAB high bay 3 and then soft mated to the STS-96 external tank and solid rocket booster stack. Following final electrical and mechanical connections, Shuttle interface testing is scheduled for April 19. Discovery is targeted for rollout to the launch pad on April 21.

At the pad, technicians will remove the two integrated electronic assembly (IEA) boxes from both solid rocket boosters. One IEA is in the forward assembly and one is in the aft assembly. The IEAs receive and execute SRB separation and range safety commands. Inside each IEA is a multiplexer demultiplexer that houses a printed circuit card. Recent tests have revealed that these cards may develop electrical shorts due to normal flight operations. As a precaution, Shuttle managers have decided to replace the suspect components in parallel with standard prelaunch work at the pad. No impact to the May 20 target launch date is expected.

STS-96 SCHEDULED OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only):

• Shuttle rolls to Launch Pad 39B (April 21)
• Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (April 29)

MISSION: STS-93 -- Chandra X-ray Observatory (formerly AXAF)

STS-93 images

• VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102
• LOCATION: OPF bay 1
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: July 9, 1999 at 1:19 a.m. EDT
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: July 14, 1999 at 12:20 a.m. EDT
• LAUNCH WINDOW: 46 minutes
• MISSION DURATION: 4 days, 23 hours
• CREW: Collins, Ashby, Hawley, Coleman, Tognini
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 153 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

NOTE: Shortly after noon today, Columbia arrived at OPF bay 1 having completed its temporary storage period in VAB high bay 2. Orbiter processing for mission STS-93 will resume following routine receiving inspections.

MISSION: STS-99 -- SHUTTLE RADAR TOPOGRAPHY MISSION (SRTM)

• VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105
• LOCATION: OPF bay 2
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Sept. 16, 1999 at 8:47 a.m. EDT
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Sept. 27, 1999 at 12:52 p.m. EDT
• LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours and 30 minutes
• MISSION DURATION: 11 days, 4 hours and 5 minutes
• CREW: Kregel, Gorie, Kavandi, Voss, Mohri, Thiele
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 126 nautical miles/57 degrees

NOTE: Checks on Endeavour's orbital maneuvering system continue. Servicing of freon coolant loop No. 1 is complete and preparations to service loop No. 2 are in work. This week, workers will install the orbiter docking system harness.

MISSION: STS-101 -- 3rd INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FLIGHT
SPACEHAB DOUBLE MODULE/ICC

• VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104
• LOCATION: OPF bay 3
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: December 2, 1999
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: December 13, 1999
• LAUNCH WINDOW: 5-10 minutes
• MISSION DURATION: 10 days and 19 hours
• CREW: Halsell, Horowitz, Weber, Lu, Williams, Malenchenko, Morukov
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 173 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

NOTE: Following replacement of the strut attach bolt for Atlantis' power reactant storage and distribution system, leak checks of oxygen tanks are now complete. Payload bay liner retainer modifications are under way and main propulsion system testing continues this week.

Information about the countdown and mission can be accessed electronically via the Internet at: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/ and at http://shuttle.nasa.gov/