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NASA Daily News
Tuesday, January 26, 1993
Two Independence Square,
Washington, D.C.
Audio service: 202/358-3014

 % Columbia payload bay door problem resolved; rollover
                next week to VAB;
 % Columbia's STS-55 mission is dedicated German Spacelab
                research flight;
 % Multiple remote sensing, geological, and environmental
                symposia coming up.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Preparations to make Columbia ready for rollover from the 
Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly 
Building are continuing on a schedule which could allow 
the launch of the STS-55 mission in late February.  
Current plans call for a rollover sometime early next 
week, possibly on Tuesday, Feb. 2.  A problem with the 
latching alignment and closing mechanism of Columbia's 
payload bay doors was resolved satisfactorily yesterday 
after technicians re-lubricated portions of the 
mechanism.  The doors were closed completely five times 
to ensure the problem had been solved.  There are no 
other reported issues with the orbiter or its Spacelab 
cargo and KSC expects to have the vehicle on the 
transporter by this weekend for stacking onto its 
external tank and solid rocket boosters next week.  The 
management flight readiness review for the mission is 
scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 11, at the Kennedy Space 
Center.

The STS-55 mission is a dedicated German research flight,
as was the D-1 mission which flew on STS-61A in November 
1985.  The flight is scheduled as an 8-day and 22-hour, 
seven-crewmember mission with the Spacelab long module 
and a variety of scientific discipline investigations.  
This mission's major Spacelab facilities will continue 
the exploration of fluid physics and human physiological 
changes in microgravity.  Additional experiments will 
continue the investigations of the Earth's atmosphere, 
the surface topography of the planet, and include 
additional investigations in galactic astronomy and 
technology development.

The mission will also feature the flight of two German 
payload specialists and will provide both the U.S. and 
German crewmembers with daily opportunities to 
communicate with Earth-bound citizens in both countries 
through the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment gear, which 
is flying again on this mission.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM)
is hosting the 9th Thematic Conference on Geologic Remote
Sensing in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Feb. 8 through
Thursday, Feb. 11.  Cooperating professional societies
include the American Society for Photogrammetry and
Remote Sensing, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists,
the Geological Society of America, the Colorado Mining
Association, the Canadian Remote Sensing Society, the
International Society for Optical Engineering, and the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

The Pasadena conference will feature special workshops on
the geological applications of radar remote sensing and
other workshops on geographic information systems (GIS).
The conference will take place at the Pasadena Center
Conference Building and at the nearby Doubletree Hotel.

Other related international conferences scheduled in the
near future include the 25th International Symposium on
Remote Sensing and Global Environmental Change, also
being co-sponsored by ERIM, in Graz, Austria, the week of
April 4 through 8; and the International Society for
Optical Engineering and American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics jointly-hosted Optical Engineering and
Photonics in Aerospace Science and Sensing Symposium to
be held in Orlando, Fla., the week of April 12 through
16.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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.  Live indicates a program is transmitted live.

Tuesday, January 26, 1993
Live
12:00 pm
                NASA Today news program, today
                featuring a report on results from the Cosmic Background
                Explorer mission and the implications of those results to
                the Big Bang Theory; a report from the Marshall Space
                Flight Center on development of the next of the Great
                Observatories P the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility;
                a report from the Technology 2002 conference, held late
                last year in Baltimore; a report on the work to calibrate
                and get the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite ready for its
                scientific job of measuring the world's oceans; and
                finally a look at a new management development program
                within the agency.

12:15 pm
Aeronautics & Space Report.

12:30 pm
Apollo Atmospherics.

1:00 pm
Aero-Oddities.

1:30 pm
Time of Apollo.

2:00 pm
Starfinder program #7.

2:30 pm
Space for Women.

3:00 pm
Total Quality Management program #30 from
                the University of New Mexico Series.


at 4:00 and 8:00 pm and 12:00 midnight the broadcast
                schedule of the day repeats.


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, 202/358-3014 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.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Every once in a while,
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | try pushing your luck.
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     |