Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 Daily Science Update for April 7, 1997

April 7, 6:30 a.m. CDT Huntsville ,AL

Working against a double whammy of an early landing and computer problems, Spacelab science teams in orbit and on Earth pressed on to cram as many experiments as possible before Spacelab is powered down this evening.

"I think everyone has done real well, considering the circumstances," Assistant Mission Scientist Patton Downey told the science teams Sunday evening.

The Microgravity Sciences Laboratory (MSL-1) mission is to end early because a failing fuel cell aboard Space Shuttle Columbia requires the crew to land Tuesday afternoon rather than April 21, the original plan. With the fuel cell shut down (two are still operating), the crew even turned off the lights in the Spacelab module to conserve power for experiments. The time required to prepare for landing means that experiments will end at 6:21 p.m. Monday. Even so, significant science is being accomplished.

"The past 24 hours probably have been the most important in the history of combustion science ... a phenomenal effort under very difficult circumstances," alternate payload specialist Paul Ronney - also a CM-1 investigator - told mission specialist Janice Voss as she went off duty late Sunday night.

"I'm expecting a big hug when I get back," Voss replied.

"You've got it."

Other experiments continuing during Sunday included the Large Isothermal Furnace (LIF), the TEMPUS levitating furnace, the Droplet Combustion Experiments (DCE), the Combustion Module (CM), and the Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures (CSLM) experiment.

If the opportunity arises during the compressed science activities, one astronaut will take pictures of Central America to help NASA's archaeologist in searching for ancient Mayan sites.

END

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Author: David Dooling
Curator: Linda Porter
NASA Official: Gregory S. Wilson