STS-89 Day 9 Highlights
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- On Friday, January 30, 1998, 7:00 a.m. CST, STS-89 MCC Status Report # 16
reports:
- Thirteen humans are circling the globe simultaneously in three
separate space vehicles today after a busy Thursday in which two of
the ships parted company after four days of flying in tandem and was
launched from the steppes of Khazakstan.
- After a good night's sleep, the crew of Endeavour awakened at 6:48
a.m. today to the sounds of George Thorougood's."Bad to the Bone," a
favorite of Pilot Joe Edwards, and began strapping down the last of
the equipment and experiment samples transferred from Mir for the
return to Earth. One of the key transfer items, Mission Specialist
Dave Wolf, began preparing himself for the return to Earth after what
will have been 128 days in orbit.
- Aboard Mir, U.S. Astronaut Andy Thomas began settling in to his new
home as his new crew mates, Mir 25 Commander Talgat Musabayev, Flight
Engineer Nikolai Budarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts began
their journey from the planet's surface. About 6:50 a.m., Mir 24
Commander Anatoly Solovyev and Flight Engineer Pavel Vinogradov
undocked a Progress resupply vessel to make room for the advancing
Soyuz TM-27 capsule, scheduled to arrive at 12:13 p.m. CST
Saturday. Solovyev, Vinogradov and Eyharts are scheduled to return to
Earth on Feb. 19.
- Interviewers from the Associated Press and ABC Radio will interview
the entire Endeavour crew at 2:13 p.m. CST today.
- The weather forecast for Saturday's scheduled 4:35 p.m. CST landing
at the Kennedy Space Center.continues to call for clear skies and
favorable winds. Mission managers have elected not to call up landing
support at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
- Endeavour is orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of
about 240 miles with all of its systems working well.
- On Friday, January 30, 1998, 6:30 p.m. CST, STS-89 MCC Status Report # 17
reports:
- The STS-89 astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour are set to
conclude their voyage in space at 4:35 p.m. Central time tomorrow at
the Kennedy Space Center.in Florida, following today's checkout of
systems that will be used during reentry and landing. With weather
forecasts continuing to be very favorable for both KSC landing
opportunities, mission managers have elected to not call up support at
the backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California on
Saturday.
- Commander Terry Wilcutt, Pilot Joe Edwards and Mission Specialist
Mike Anderson spent the morning testing Endeavour's flight control
surfaces and thruster jets to ensure they are ready to support the
Shuttle's high speed return to Earth.
- The astronauts' final day on orbit was also devoted to stowing
equipment and finishing experiment work in the SPACEHAB module in the
cargo bay. The crew will go to bed this evening at 9:48 p.m. Central
time for an eight hour sleep period which will end with a wakeup call
from Mission Control tomorrow morning at 5:48 a.m. CST.
- Earlier today, the STS-89 crew took a break from their end of
mission preparation activities to conduct an interview with the
Associated Press and ABC Radio. During the interview Dave Wolf said
he was looking forward to the comforts of home as he prepares for his
return to Earth after 128 days in space, most of it as a crewmember on
board the Mir Space Station.
- Wilcutt, Wolf and Bonnie Dunbar also received a congratulatory phone
call from NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin near the end of their
workday. Dunbar paid tribute to the 25th anniversary of the Skylab
program, which saw nine astronauts spend extended time on orbit in
what amounted to America's first space station. Dunbar was a flight
controller who helped supervise the controlled reentry of Skylab in
1979 following the end of the program. Anderson also delivered a
commemorative message marking Saturday's 40th anniversary of the
launch of America's first satellite, Explorer 1, which occurred just a
few months after Russia's launching of the world's first satellite,
Sputnik 1.
- Aboard the Mir, Commander Anatoly Solovyev, Flight Engineer Pavel
Vinogradov and U.S. astronaut Andy Thomas are awaiting the arrival of
the Mir 25 cosmonauts, Commander Talgat Musabayev, Flight Engineer
Nikolai Budarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts, who are
scheduled to dock to the Russian station Saturday at 12:13
p.m. Central time. Musabayev and Budarin will replace Solovyev and
Vinogradov, who will return to Earth on February 19 with
Eyharts. Thomas will spend the rest of his four-month research mission
with Musabayev and Budarin, who will remain on the Mir until August.
- Endeavour's deorbit preparations on Saturday will begin just before
11:30 a.m. CST. Saturday followed by the closing of the Shuttle's
payload bay doors at about 12:50 p.m. The astronauts are scheduled to
don their launch and entry suits shortly after 2 p.m. and will strap
into their seats about 2:30 p.m. Entry Flight Director John Shannon
is expected to poll the flight control team for the final decision for
the deorbit burn 20 minutes prior to the planned firing of Endeavour's
orbital maneuvering system engines at 3:28 p.m.
- Endeavour is orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of
about 240 statute miles with all of its systems working well.
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