KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
      WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1999 (1:02 PM EDT)
      MISSION: STS-93 -- Chandra X-ray Observatory

      STS-93 images

      • VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102
      • LOCATION: Launch Pad 39B
      • TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: No earlier than July 20, 1999 at 12:36 a.m. EDT (under review)
      • TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: July 24, 1999 at 11:31 p.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: Yesterday, workers disabled the drive train for truck No. 1 on the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) at Launch Pad 39B to accommodate RSS rotation tests this morning. With those tests successfully completed, RSS operations will proceed normally using only truck No. 2 . If all continues to go well, the Chandra/IUS payload will arrive at Launch Pad 39B early Thursday morning for installation into the payload changeout room on the RSS. The payload will then be installed into Columbia's payload bay no earlier than Monday.

      Last Monday night one of the two RSS trucks that extend and retract the RSS away from the Shuttle failed to operate properly. Because the RSS did not fully retract and stopped after moving only four inches, the Chandra/IUS payload was not transferred to the launch pad. The RSS must be retracted for a payload to be installed into the payload changeout room.

      A hot fire test of auxiliary power unit No. 2 has been successfully completed. Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test activities continue, but Thursday's dress rehearsal will now start two hours late culminating with a simulated main engine cut-off at about 1 p.m. Columbia remains targeted for launch no earlier than July 20.

      STS-93 SCHEDULED OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only):

      • Chandra payload arrives at Pad 39B (NET June 24)
      • Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test complete (June 24)
      • Payload installed inside payload bay (NET June 28)
      • Flight Readiness Review (July 8)
      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: Leak checks on Endeavour's recently modified freon coolant loop No. 2 are in progress. Workers are installing the orbiter external airlock and the payload premate test is in work. Later this week, technicians will connect the orbiter's auxiliary power unit drain lines.

      MISSION: STS-103 -- 3rd HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SERVICING MISSION (HST-3)

      • VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
      • LOCATION: OPF bay 1
      • TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Oct. 14, 1999 at 5:42 a.m. EDT
      • TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Oct. 24, 1999 at 3:20 a.m. EDT
      • LAUNCH WINDOW: 42 minutes
      • MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 21 hours and 38 minutes
      • CREW: Brown, Kelly, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier, Clervoy
      • ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 317 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

      NOTE: Removal of Discovery's main engines is complete. Preparations for orbiter maneuvering system functional tests are under way. This week workers will remove the orbiter's forward reaction control system and replace fuel cell No. 2. Removal of the transfer tunnel adapter is also scheduled this week.

      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: Atlantis' left-hand orbital maneuvering system checks are in work. TACAN antenna installation, wireless video modifications, and mass spectrometer leak checks on the orbiter's fuel cell power plant continue.

      --end--

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      Author: Joel Wells / NASA Public Affairs
      Curator: Kay Grinter (kay.grinter-1@ksc.nasa.gov) / Information Dynamics, Inc.
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