Conference 7.286::space

56.0. "Space Shuttle DISCOVERY Mission" by PYRITE::WEAVER () Tue Jun 25 1985 12:55

Sorry for the delay in writing this information, but I was out of
town for two weeks.

						-Dave

Subject: Liftoff
Posted: Mon Jun 17 06:57:33 1985

Space shuttle Discovery lifted off on time today,
at 0733 EDT.  It was everything but eventful.


Subject: Mexican Satellite Deployed
Posted: Tue Jun 18 21:47:44 1985

The crew of the Discovery today successfully deployed Morelos-A,
the Mexican satellite aboard the shuttle.  Later, its PAM engine
ignited and took it to geosynchronous orbit.


Subject: Arab Satellite Deployed
Posted: Tue Jun 18 18:15:46 1985

The Discovery today successfuly deployed a satellite owned by
a consortium of Arab countries.  The deployment was delayed
while crew members inspected the berthed satellite via remote
camera to determine whether or not a sensor that reported a
premature deployment of a solar panel was malfunctioning.  The
panel turned out to be locked into its proper place.  After
satellite deployment, its PAM engine ignited and took it to
its geosynchronous orbit.


Subject: Laser Test Fails -- Satellite Deployed
Posted: Wed Jun 19 20:09:49 1985

A laser beam was shot at the space shuttle today in a test
to see how laser light diffuses as it travels through the
atmosphere.  Unfortunately, numbers fed by ground control
into the shuttle autopilot were in feet instead of nautical
miles with the result that the mirror on the shuttle that
should have reflected the beam back to Earth was on the
wrong side at the appointed time.  NASA said there will
be another chance on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Telstar-3D was successfully deployed and NASA
reported a successful PAM burn, making this mission 3 for 
3 in satellite deployments.


Subject: Spartan Launched -- Laser Test Rescheduled
Posted: Thu Jun 20 16:56:52 1985

Spartan-1 was deployed by the Discovery crew today.  The satellite
will scan the stars for sources of X-rays, concentrating on the
center of the Milky Way Galaxy, where astronomers believe exists
a black hole.  The satellite will be retrieved in two days and
returned to Earth.

Meanwhile, NASA rescheduled the test of a low powered laser
system for 0730 EDT Friday.  The laser is to be fired from a
mountaintop observatory and reflected by the shuttle.  A
measurement given to the shuttle's autopilot was in feet
instead of nautical miles, so the shuttle thought the mountaintop
was 9000 miles above the Earth instead of a little over a
mile and a half; the result was that the mirror ended up on
the wrong side of the ship.


Subject: Laser Test Successful
Posted: Fri Jun 21 17:18:55 1985

What started as a 5 mm wide laser beam grew to 30 feet in
diameter by the time it had reached the shuttle today.  In
the test, the beam was reflected perfectly back to the ground,
and controllers were able to track the shuttle for over
2 minutes.

 

Subject: Landing
Posted: Mon Jun 24 20:01:36 1985

At 0912 EDT today, right on scheduled, the Discovery touched
down in a flawless landing at EAFB.  NASA officials initially
stated worry over a six inch track in the sand runway that
they feared was due to locked brakes; later, though, it was
announced that there was no brake damage on this flight --
the track was due to wet spots in the sand.  However, NASA
said that this landing was rough enough that had it been
at KSC, another blown tire would probably have resulted.