🚀 go-pugleaf

Here is a report on the upcoming Shuttle mission from Francis
Slakey of The American Physical Society.  Is it just me, or does
anyone else think that NASA's Shuttle people engage in a little
too much hucksterism?  I especially find the wake-up calls to
raucous music annoying - do those people really find that amusing?
Do they do their Christmas shopping at Spencer's Gifts?

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WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 8 Jan 93       Washington, DC

3. SHUTTLE MISSION STS-54 WILL ADVANCE THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE.
The seven-day $843M mission is scheduled for a 13 Jan 93 launch.
In the "Application Specific Preprogrammed Experiment Culture
System Physics of Toys" test, Mission Specialist Susan Helms will
play with a "flipping mouse," Mario Runco with "klacker balls",
Greg Harbaugh with a basketball, and pilot Don McMonagle with a
"balloon helicopter".  After recess they can relieve themselves
in a test of the new $30M Hamilton Standard Space Toilet.  Then,
it's on to the Extravehicular Activity test.  The Intravehicular
Crew Member (Helms) will observe as Extravehicular Crew Member 1
(Harbaugh) and Extravehicular Crew Member 2 (Runco) manipulate
each other in the cargo bay.  As explained by NASA: "To simulate
carrying a large object, the astronauts will carry one another;
to simulate how well they can align an object, they will attempt
to place each other into brackets in Endeavor's airlock."

Francis Slakey  (202) 662-8700      The American Physical Society
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Dale M. Greer, whose opinions are not to be confused with those of the
Center for Space Sciences, U.T. at Dallas, UTSPAN::UTADNX::UTDSSA::GREER
"Let machines multiply, doing the work of many,
                     But let the people have no use for them." - Lao Tzu