TSS-1R/USMP-3 Public Affairs Status Report #18 6:00 a.m. CST, March 5, 1996 11/15:42 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center Along with yesterday's decision to extend the third United States Microgravity Laboratory (USMP-3) mission by one day to enhance science return, the space science network also expanded with an historic first for microgravity science. "This is the first time a principal investigator has commanded a microgravity science instrument on the Space Shuttle from his home institution -- a U.S. college campus," USMP-3 Program Scientist Dr. Steve Davison reported, referring to the remote commanding of the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE). Dr. Martin Glicksman, of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y., has the distinction of being that principal investigator. Around 9:10 a.m. CST, one of Dr. Glicksman's team members, who joined him from the NASA Lewis Research Center, sent a command to their experiment in Columbia's cargo bay. That step began a third science phase for the dendrites research team, to continue studying how metal alloys solidify free from the convective flows caused by Earth's gravity. Throughout the mission, the Rensselaer Operations Control Center crew has been working hand-in-hand with their counterparts at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's Spacelab Mission Operations Control to analyze data produced by the IDGE experiment. Now, with RPI in the driver's seat, the results of their first growth cycle became clear, as the first dendrite of this operational phase emerged in record time. The characteristics of these microscopic crystals help determine the strength and flexibility of products such as automobile engine blocks and jet engine turbine blades. The ultimate goal of the IDGE investigation is to improve ground-based materials processing for metals ranging from aluminum to steel. Another collaborative effort between NASA centers is the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF) investigation. AADSF brings together a sophisticated Marshall- developed furnace for growing semiconductor materials and a science team under the direction of Principal Investigator Dr. Archie Fripp of NASA's Langley Research Center. The three delicate lead-tin-telluride crystals that have been successfully grown by AADSF during this mission are slated for microscopic study when the samples are returned to Earth. Referring to the detailed science support provided by the Spacelab Mission Operations Control cadre, Dr. Fripp commented that his experiment performed "flawlessly." "The pilot and crew put the Shuttle in the proper attitudes required for sample processing and held them there," Fripp said. Monday afternoon, the high- temperature AADSF furnace was cooled and prepared for landing on Friday. The Critical Fluid Light Scattering Experiment, known as Zeno, also shows the value of cooperation between NASA, academia and industry. Under the direction of Dr. Robert Gammon of the University of Maryland in College Park, the Zeno team includes members of NASA's Lewis Research Center and Ball Aerospace. As his research team moves to within millionths of a degree of the point where the xenon sample will exist simultaneously as a liquid and a gas, known as the critical point, Dr. Gammon also complimented the work of the Spacelab Mission Operations Control cadre. This special operations team works with the orbiter crew to put the Shuttle in the best possible position for the USMP-3 microgravity experiments. The basic science questions that the Zeno investigation seeks to answer could improve chemical engineering processes ranging from applying special paints to handling toxic waste. The MEPHISTO investigation brings together nations working toward a common goal, with their French Space Agency center in Toulouse, France, and their NASA teams at the Marshall Center and the University of Alabama in Huntsville all gathering data about crystal solidification. "Most of the materials we use are formed by solidification," explained MEPHISTO principal investigator Dr. Jean-Jacques Favier. "This is true for semiconductors as well as high-strength alloys." The Information Age has linked people from around the world, and research conducted by the international MEPHISTO team could lead to faster computers and more versatile metals. In the next 24 hours, combustion experiments in the Middeck Glovebox will continue gathering more science than originally planned, as crew members burn additional samples for the Radiative Ignition and Transition to Spread Investigation. The Marshall- managed Glovebox experiments are contributed by NASA's Lewis Research Center and the National Institute for Standards and Testing. Meanwhile, the MEPHISTO team plans to speed up one of their furnace's solidification cycles to coincide with a Shuttle thruster firing to monitor its effect on their sample. Status reports are issued from Marshall Space Flight Center's Spacelab Mission Operations Control at 6 a.m.; and from Johnson Space Center's Mission Control at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. For additional information, see the USMP-3 payload Internet homepage at http://liftoff.msfc. nasa.gov/sts-75/usmp-3/usmp-3.html, the TSS-1R payload Internet homepage at http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/sts-75/tss- 1r/tss-1r.html and the STS-75 Shuttle Mission Internet homepage at http://www.ksc.nasa. gov/shuttle/missions/sts-75/mission-sts- 75.html or at http://shuttle.nasa.gov. Tethered satellite sighting opportunities may be found at: http://shuttle.nasa.gov/sts75/orbit/orbiter/ sighting/shuttle.html#tss.