Mission Control Center
STS-62 Status Report #9
Tuesday, March 8, 1994, 8 a.m. CST

The middeck payloads will take center stage this morning as the STS-62 
crew works through the second half of its fifth day on orbit. 

This morning, Mission Specialists Andy Allen and Sam Gemar took turns in 
the Lower Body Negative Pressure Unit.  The sack-like device seals at the 
waist so that pressure around the lower body can be gradually decreased.  
The lowered pressure draws body fluids down to the legs and lower torso, 
similar to the body's normal state on Earth.  The LBNP protocol is being 
tested as a countermeasure to the condition "orthostatic intolerance" in 
which a person feels lightheaded after standing.  Some astronauts 
experience such sensations upon standing after the shuttle lands.  Today, 
Allen and Gemar performed the 45-minute ramp test. Gemar will perform the 
longer soak protocol on Flight Day 14. 

STS-62 Commander John Casper, Mission Specialist Pierre Thuot and Mission 
Specialist Marsha Ivins relaxed on board Columbia for the first half of 
the day.  On long duration flights, mission planners schedule off duty 
time for each crew member to keep them well rested throughout the flight.  
Gemar and Allen had their off duty time on Monday. 

With those activities complete, the crew will turn its attention to the 
assortment of secondary payloads.  Astronauts will check on the protein 
crystal growth experiments, the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing 
Apparatus experiments and the rodents which are flying as part of the 
Physiological Systems Experiment.  They also will continue the Middeck 0-
Gravity Dynamics Experiment activities. 

Columbia continues to perform well as it orbits the Earth once every 90 
minutes at an altitude of 163 by 160 nautical miles.