STS-73 Day 2 Highlights

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On Saturday, October 21, 1995, 7 a.m. CDT, STS-73 MCC Status Report # 03 reports:

Columbia's crew continued research work in the United States Microgravity Lab-2 during the night uninterrupted by any problems with the spacecraft.

The Blue Team crew members -- Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and Cady Coleman and Payload Specialist Fred Leslie -- wrapped up their first, full 12-hour shift in the lab at about 6:38 a.m. CDT. During the last part of the Blue shift, new shuttle equipment being carried aboard Columbia for the first time this mission that allows television to be sent from the ground to the crew was tested. The ground-to- air television test, which included live scenes from Mission Control, appeared good onboard the shuttle, reported Columbia Pilot Kent Rominger.

The Red Team crew -- Commander Ken Bowersox, Rominger, Payload Commander Kathy Thornton and Payload Specialist Al Sacco -- awoke from their first night in orbit at about 3:53 a.m. CDT today and relieved the Blue Team in the lab module this morning. The Red Team will remain on duty until 6:53 p.m. CDT.

Highlights of NASA Television today will include the Flight Day 2 Mission Update program airing at 11:30 a.m. CDT; a Mission Status Briefing press conference at 1 p.m.; and an interview of the Red Team by the Florida Radio Network at 5:58 p.m. CDT that may include phone-in questions from listeners

On Saturday, October 21, 1995, 2 p.m. CDT, STS-73 MCC Status Report # 04 reports:

All systems aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia continue to work well as the orbiter's seven member crew continues its microgravity work in the United States Microgravity Lab-2 (USML-2).

The Red Team crew -- Commander Ken Bowersox, Pilot Kent Rominger, Payload Commander Kathy Thornton and Payload Specialist Al Sacco -- spent today in the lab module working on a variety of experiments and tasks. The Red Team hands over its duties to the Blue Team at 6:53 p.m. today. The Blue Team crew - Mission specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and Cady Coleman, and Payload Specialist Fred Leslie -- then will take a turn in the lab. The Blue Team's shift ends at 6:38 a.m. Sunday.

The first in-flight special event is scheduled for 5:58 p.m. CDT today when available crew members talk to Alan McBride of the Florida Radio Network. The event will be audio only.

On Saturday, October 21, 1995 at 6 a.m. CDT, STS-73 Payload Status Report # 02 reports: (0/21:07 MET)

The second United States Microgravity Laboratory's "blue team" -- Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and Cady Coleman, and Payload Specialist Fred Leslie -- spent a busy first shift putting more of the mission's microgravity experiments into operation.

Alegria activated the Protein Crystallization Apparatus for Microgravity experiments located in two Shuttle middeck lockers. During USML-2, the experiments will grow more than 800 protein crystals -- six times the number normally accommodated in the same space. Principal Investigator Dr. Dan Carter of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center who has flown the apparatus on several Shuttle missions has grown protein crystals with enhanced internal order.

Because a protein's structure determines its function, researchers analyze the improved crystals to understand the structure in greater detail. For instance, a number of pharmaceutical companies have samples in USML-2 protein crystal growth facilities. Improved crystals will aid their design of new drugs. The superior crystals grown in space contribute insights that otherwise might not have been possible, despite huge investments in ground-based research.

Another USML-2 protein facility, the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Commercial Protein Crystal Growth vapor diffusion apparatus, had experienced somewhat elevated temperatures yesterday due to warmer than normal crew cabin temperatures after launch. After the cabin cooled, the temperature in the refrigerated incubator was down to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius), well within satisfactory limits.

Coleman spent the first portion of her shift activating more of the biological samples in NASA's Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus. The facility, managed by Bioserve Space Technologies at the University of Colorado in Boulder, is a generic research tool for a wide variety of life-science experiments. Subjects range from molecules and cells to tiny organisms. Groups of eight syringe-like fluid containers are packaged together so they can be activated simultaneously by turning a crank on the pack.

Leslie's first major assignment was loading six samples into the Marshall Center's Crystal Growth Furnace, a multi-user facility for growing crystals of semiconducting material, metals and alloys. Crew members also installed a flexible glovebox atop the furnace, which they will use later in the mission to remove crystallized samples and replace them with new sample cylinders. An automatic sample exchanger within the furnace allows ground controllers to command processing of multiple crystals in sequence, freeing the Spacelab crew for other duties.

Just after midnight, Crystal Growth Furnace team members began vapor crystal growth of their first semiconductor sample, a mercury cadmium telluride compound provided by Dr. Heribert Wiedemeier of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Wiedemeier is examining the initial phase of vapor crystal growth in a complex alloy semiconductor. The vapor transport method deposits layers, or thin films, of mercury cadmium telluride on a cadmium telluride substrate, or base. The material is used in infrared detectors for products such as cancer detection devices and the military's night-vision goggles.

Wiedemeier's analysis of the mercury cadmium telluride crystal he grew during USML-1 revealed new information about how microgravity affects formation of the initial layer on the substrate. His USML-2 experiment zeros in on that stage of growth, which determines the atomic arrangement of the entire crystal and thus the ultimate quality of the material.

Later, Coleman checked out power, lighting, ventilation and video in the versatile Glovebox facility, provided by the European Space Agency. The transparent enclosure, which also flew on USML-1, is a self-contained work area for experiment handling and observation that protects against possible contamination of the Spacelab environment. USML-2 crew members will use the Glovebox for seven investigations, several of which will enhance other mission experiments.

The Spacelab crew then turned their attention to the Lewis Research Center's Surface Tension Driven Convection Experiment, another facility returning after a USML-1 debut. The apparatus allows investigators to view in great detail the basic fluid mechanics and heat transfer of thermocapillary flows, motions created within fluids by non- uniform heating of their free surfaces. Though masked by gravity in ground-based processing, such flows during melting and resolidifying can create defects in high-tech crystals, metals, alloys and ceramics. Leslie installed the facility's infrared imager, video cassette recorder, and the first test module. Coleman then checked out the video system, which allows ground controllers to see how changes in heating and surface shape affect flows within the fluid.

During the upcoming shift, Payload Specialist Al Sacco will work with his Glovebox Zeolite Crystal Growth experiment, and Payload Commander Kathy Thornton will start up the Drop Physics Module. Initial operations for the Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell Experiment are scheduled for later this afternoon.

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