Headline News
Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters

  Friday, December 6, 1991  Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Friday, December 6, 1991 . . .

The space shuttle Atlantis is just about ready for its long trip home to 
Florida.  Technicians have finished all of the preparations, including 
installation of the tail cone.  Atlantis will be mated to the 747 
carrier aircraft tonight.  Departure from Edwards Air Force 
Base for the first leg of the trip home is expected to occur shortly 
after daybreak tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 7.  In general, weather 
conditions along the southern U.S. flight path hav been acceptable for 
the flight.  The 747 carrier aircraft is expected to refuel at Kelly Air 
Force Base, San Antonio.  If, after refueling, the weather supports a 
continuation of the flight, the plan is to continue on and layover at 
Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle.  Atlantis would then 
arrive at Kennedy Space Center on Monday.

At Kennedy, preparations for Discovery's STS-42 International 
Microgravity Laboratory research mission in January continue 
to go smoothly.  The vehicle will be rolled from its Orbiter Processing 
Facility bay to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking with its 
external tank and solid rocket boosters next Friday.  The Terminal 
Countdown Demonstration Test for the STS-42 mission is 
presently scheduled for January 6 and 7.

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Goddard Space Flight Center atmospheric scientists report that 
data from the recently-launched Upper Atmosphere Research 
Satellite have confirmed the link between the presence of 
chlorine monoxide in the upper atmosphere and the depletion 
of ozone at those same altitudes.  Although still undergoing 
instrument checkout, the satellite's 10 scientific data sensors are all 
on, functioning nominally, and gathering data.  The chlorine monoxide 
data is provided uniquely by the Microwave Limb Sounder instrument, 
developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  The MLS also is one of 
four instruments which looks at ozone levels.  The data shows that in 
areas where there is a high concentration of the ClO molecule, 
there is a corresponding severe depletion of the O3 molecule.  
Previous measurements of this relationship were performed by NASA 
ER-2 aircraft flying over extremely limited regions.  The UARS data is 
global.

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NASA Administrator Richard Truly and Italian Space Agency 
President Prof. Luciano Guerriero today will sign an agreement calling 
for the Italian agency to design and develop Mini Pressurized Logistics 
Modules for Space Station Freedom.

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The crew of the recently-completed STS-44 mission will hold a 
press briefing next Friday, Dec. 13, at the Johnson Space 
Center.  The crew will describe their flight and narrate videotape and 
photographs they acquired during the mission.  The briefing will be 
shown live on NASA Select TV.

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NASA Headquarters will hold another in its series of Total Quality 
Management Colloquia next Tuesday, December 10, at 1:00 pm 
in the Headquarters auditorium.  Guest speaker for this session 
will be Dr. Daniel Roos, from the Center for Technology Policy and 
Industrial Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Dr. 
Roos is also the co-author of The Machine that Changed the World.  He 
will discuss global competition's effects on the aerospace 
community.  His remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer 
session.

  
Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on 
NASA Select TV.  Note that all events and times may change 
without notice, and that all times listed are Eastern.

Friday, December 6, 1991
    12:00 pm  NASA Today news program.
    12:15 pm  Gyroscopes in Space.
    12:30 pm  Viking Expedition to Mars.
     1:00 pm  Life in the Universe program #4.
     1:30 pm  Second Science Harvest.
     2:00 pm  Project LASER.
     2:30 pm  Dream That Wouldn't Down.
     3:00 pm  Journey through the Solar System -- Earth.
     3:30 pm  Age of Space Transportation.
     4:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
     8:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
    12:00 am  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
Tuesday, December 10, 1991
     1:00 pm  Total Quality Management Colloquia with Dr. Daniel 
              Roos from NASA Headquarters auditorium.
Thursday, December 12, 1991
     2:00 pm  STS-42 crew pre-flight press briefing from Houston.
Friday, December 13, 1991
     2:00 pm  STS-44 crew post-mission press briefing from Houston.

  
This report is filed daily at noon, Monday through Friday.  It is 
a service of NASA's Office of Public Affairs.  The editor is 
Charles Redmond, 202/453-8425 or CREDMOND on NASAmail.  
NASA Select TV is carried on GE Satcom F2R, transponder 13, 
C-Band, 72 degrees West Longitude, transponder frequency is 
3960 MegaHertz, audio subcarrier is 6.8 MHz, polarization is 
vertical.