STS-48 MISSION CONTROL STATUS REPORT 1 September 13, 1991 Friday, 2:30 a.m. CDT Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off on STS-48 at 6:11 p.m. CDT Thursday after a 14-minute hold to resolve a minor communications problem. About two and a half hours into the mission, Discovery's crew members began the Flight Day 1 checkout of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. Several communications checks were completed between the satellite and the Payload Operations Control Center located at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Mission Specialist Mark Brown, who will deploy the UARS on Saturday, using the robot arm to lift the satellite out of Discovery's payload bay, worked through a checkout of that Payload Deployment and Retrieval System. The UARS checkout procedures completed thus far show all the satellite's instruments functioning well. A complete dump of UARS' onboard computer memory verified the computer's memory contained the correct software programming for its 10-month mission to study the Earth's atmosphere. The UARS satellite spearheads a long- term, national program of space research into global atmospheric change. Mission Specialist Sam Gemar set up the Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor mid-deck experiment which collects data on cosmic ray energy loss spectra, neutron fluxes and induced radioactivity through passive and active monitors placed at specific locations throughout the orbiter's cabin. This experiment is sponsored by the Department of Defense. Gemar also activated the Shuttle Activation Monitor, another mid- deck experiment which measures gamma ray data within the orbiter as a function of time and location. Foil packets are installed at four locations onboard Discovery. A tape recorder and two detector assembles will record the information. SAM is sponsored by the Air Force Space Systems Division, Los Angeles, Calif. During ascent, the flash evaporator system primary A side shut down. The flash evaporator is used during the ascent and entry phases of a shuttle mission to reject heat built up by the orbiter's mechanical and electronic equipment. Discovery's crew switched over to the backup flash evaporator system B which operated normally. Flight controllers believe the side A shutdown was caused by a transparent signal. Fifty-three minutes after liftoff, flight controllers asked the crew to switch back to the A side of the flash evaporator system and it worked properly. Discovery now is performing flawlessly with no system problems being worked. The orbiter circles the Earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of 292 nautical miles at an orbital inclination of 57 degrees. The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 5:11 a.m. CDT and will awaken for their second work day in space at 1:11 p.m. CDT on Friday. ------------------------------------------------------------------- STS-48 MISSION CONTROL STATUS REPORT 2 September 13, 1991 Friday, 1:30 p.m. CDT STS-48 planning shift flight controllers have spent a quiet shift working on minor updates to the flight day 2 activity plan. On their second day in space, crew members will work with secondary payloads and ready themselves for Saturday's deployment of the prime payload the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. UARS deploy remains scheduled for orbit 34, at 10:47 p.m. CDT Saturday. The crew is scheduled to begin depressurizing the shuttle's cabin shortly after 5 p.m. CDT today. They'll reduce the cabin pressure from 14.7 psi to 10.2 psi to allow Mission Specialists Sam Gemar and Jim Buchli to exit the spacecraft more quickly should a spacewalk be needed to assist with the UARS deployment. Gemar and Buchli also will begin checking out their space suits. Two orbit-raising jet firings or burns are scheduled today in preparation for Saturday's UARS deployment. The first jet firing is scheduled to occur about 6:21 p.m. CDT today. During the burn, Discovery's forward reaction control system jets will fire and raise the orbiter's altitude at a rate of 27.3 feet per second until it reaches a 307 nm by 291 nm orbit. The second burn is scheduled to occur about half an orbit later about 7:10 p.m. CDT. During this burn, the shuttle's aft RCS jets will fire and circularize the orbit at a rate of 26.2 feet per second until it reaches a 308 nm x 308 nm orbit. Oiginally Discovery was to climb to a 305 nm altitude but controllers believe it will reach a 308 nm altitude which will enable the UARS to save fuel and give it a slightly longer lifetime. The Protein Crystal Growth experiment was activated yesterday. After completing the initial droplet activity, crew members noticed that the syringes' plugs had not completely retracted and droplets had not deployed. Investigators believe some science was lost but cannot ascertain the full impact until after landing. Any information gathered from this experiment is an important addition to the growing data base on protein crystal growth in space. The plug situation might cause a change to the experiment's deactivation procedures that will occur the day before landing. The Electronic Still Camera (DTO 648) performed well during a test run yesterday. Electronic still photography is a new technology that allows astronauts to electronically capture and digitize hand-held camera images with resolution approaching film quality. Crew members successfully relayed 10 images to the ground. Crew members were awakened at 1:11 p.m. CDT to the music of "Hound Dog" performed by Elvis Presley. -------------------------------------------------------------------