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Mission Control Center
STS-64 Status Report #5
 
Sunday, Sept. 11, 4 p.m.. CDT
 
 
Discovery's crew spent the first half of the mission's third day
continuing an investigation of the exhaust plumes emitted by the shuttle's
steering jets.  Using the Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment
attached to the end of the shuttle' s mechanical arm, Mission Specialist
Susan Helms positioned instruments above steering jets both at the rear
and over the nose of Discovery. 
 
Measuring single and dual jet firings, SPIFEX's instruments characterized
the heat and pressure from the jets to help plan for dockings of the
shuttle with the Russia's Mir Space Station and the International Space
Station. 
 
Also today, Commander Dick Richards and Jerry Linenger were interviewed by
CNN, answering questions about their mission that had been sent in by CNN
viewers. 
 
For the rest of the day, the focus aboard Discovery will shift back to
laser observations using the Lidar in Space Technology Experment. LITE
will take three successive orbits of observations during the last part of
the crew's day. The crew also will exercise during the last part of the
day, evaluating a new type of treadmill carried aboard Discovery. Exercise
has been a long-standing portion of shuttle missions as one method for
offsetting the effects of weightlessness on the body. 
 
Discovery is in a 142 by 141 nautical mile orbit, circling earth every 90
minutes. The crew will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 10:23 p.m. CDT
and awaken at 6:23 a.m. CDT for the fourth day of STS-64.