Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Thursday, May 14, 1992 Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788 This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, May 14, 1992 . . . For the Intelsat 6 spacecraft, the number three was the magic charm. For the Endeavour crew, it was the third capture attempt and this time required three spacewalking crewmembers -- Pierre Thuot, Rick Hieb, and Tom Akers. The IntelsatJ6 communications satellite is now firmly attached to its new perigee kick stage rocket motor. At 1:25 pm EDT today, Intelsat flight controllers in Washington, D.C., will command the kick stage to fire, thereby sending the satellite into a high elliptical orbit. Intelsat controllers will maneuver the spacecraft into geosynchronous orbit over the mid-Atlantic by the end of May. The satellite is expected to be in full service by early summer and will be used to provide television feeds to the U.S. from the Barcelona Games. Yesterday's space walk was record-breaking in a number of categories: it was the longest ever at 8 hours and 29 minutes eclipsing even the space walks on the lunar surface time; it was the first ever for three extravehicular crewmembers; and it was the 100th spacewalk in the history of spaceflight. Yesterday evening's final crew assault on, what had up to then been, an impossible-to-grab object was the result of considerable back-and-forth planning between Endeavour's flight crew, the Houston mission control team, and a variety of others, including ground-based astronauts practicing in the Johnson Space Center's underwater training facilities. The final plan -- as executed by the first-ever spacewalking trio -- had the astronauts mounted in a triangular fashion with six up-reaching arms. Orbiter commander Dan Brandenstein then flew Endeavour to within arms' grasp of the Intelsat spacecraft. At 7:59 pm EDT, the spacewalking trio grabbed the satellite. After stabilizing it with their hands and then making sure it was plumb to the orbiter's payload bay, Thuot, Hieb and Akers then rotated the satellite to the proper attach position for finally securing the mechanical capture bar. With the capture bar attached, robot arm manipulator Bruce Melnick was then able to dock the arm to the capture bar. Melnick, looking out onto the payload bay from the aft flight deck, then moved the Intelsat satellite over and on top of the new kick stage motor. The spacewalkers removed covers and set-up attach devices and plugs on the kick stage and Melnick then lowered the satellite onto its new upper stage. Following a cinch-down procedure and a final visual inspection, the three space-suited astronauts returned to the airlock while Kathryn Thornton activated the payload bay release mechanism to send Intelsat into orbital free fall again. This final event wasn't without its own mini- drama as the release mechanism required three tries before the spacecraft was actually sent slowly spinning up and out of Endeavour's payload bay at about 12:30 am this morning. Mission management officials have extended the STS-49 mission by one extra day to allow a fourth spacewalk today to practice space station assembly techniques. Tomorrow, the crew will make Endeavour ready for its landing at Edwards AFB on Saturday at 4:57 pm EDT. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Jet Propulsion Laboratory flight controllers report the Venus-orbiting Magellan spacecraft continues to perform nominally and is continuing to acquire gravity data on every eighth orbit. So far, Magellan has completed 21 gravity orbits of Venus. The next command procedure sequence to be uplinked to Magellan today calls for 18 days of continuous radar-only mapping. This sequence ends on June 4 when Magellan's activities will be suspended during the period of Earth- Venus superior conjunction. With the Sun between Venus and Earth during the conjunction, communications to and from Magellan degrade significantly. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Education specialists at the Stennis Space Center report their Early Education Monday program for the area's youngest students was conducted last week for 360 kindergarten, first- and second-grade students from eight separate school systems. Stennis education staff also report their aerospace education programs were conducted for 1,500 older students. The Stennis Teacher Resource Center provided material to 55 educators. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ames Research Center education staff report the center's outreach program visited nearly 70 school systems in California, Idaho, Montana and Oregon this past month. The aerospace education staff also conducted 15 teacher workshops for more than 200 educators. The center also conducted a variety of tours or seminars for several hundred additional students at both the Ames center and at area universities. The Ames Teacher Resource Center provided information to nearly 300 educators. 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. Thursday, May 14, 1992 All day Continuous coverage of Endeavour crew activities. A new television schedule is being developed and was not available for publication. 12:45 pm Administrator Daniel Goldin addresses NASA employees. All day Continuous coverage of Endeavour crew activities. A new television schedule is being developed and was not available for publication. Friday, May 15, 1992 7:00 am Replay of STS-49 flight day 8 activities. 9:30 am Replay of STS-49 flight day 8 activities. Saturday, May 16, 1992 3:35 pm Scheduled time of deorbit maneuver for Endeavour. 4:57 pm Scheduled time of landing at Edwards AFB for Endeavour. TBD Replay of landing video. TBD Post-landing press briefing from Dryden Flight Research Facility. 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.