T+plus 9 minutes, 40 seconds. Columbia has achieved a preliminary orbit of 149 by 42 nautical miles. The orbit will be refined during the Orbital Manuevering System-2 burn in the next hour.
A 15 foot per second underspeed has been reported during launch.
T+plus 8 minutes, 40 seconds. Main engine cutoff. Columbia's three liquid-fueled main engines have been shut down following a successful launch this morning from Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle is now in orbit.
T+plus 6 minutes, 30 seconds. Velocity: 10,000 miles per hour, downrange distance 413 nautical miles, altitude 70 nautical miles.
T+plus 4 minutes, 30 seconds. Negative return. Columbia can no longer make an emergency landing at Kennedy Space Center.
T+plus 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Solid rocket boosters have separated. All systems are healthy onboard Columbia. However, there have been some instrumentation problems reported.
Update for 12:31 a.m. EDT
Liftoff. Liftoff of the space shuttle Columbia and the Chandra observatory to reveal the invisible X-ray universe.
Vehicle has cleared the tower; Houston now controlling the mission; roll program initiated.
T-minus 31 seconds. Go for auto sequence start. Columbia's computers now controlling the countdown.
In the next few seconds the solid rocket booster hydraulic power units will be started and the orbiter's body flap and speed brake will be moved to their launch positions. The main engine ignition will begin at T-minus 6.6 seconds.
T-minus 1 minute. Computers verifying that the main engines are ready. Sound suppression water system is armed. System will activate at T-minus 16 seconds to suppress the sound produced at launch. Residual hydrogen burn ignitors armed. They will be fired at T-minus 10 seconds to burn off any hydrogen gas from beneath the main engine nozzles. And the solid rocket booster joint heaters have been deactivated.
Shortly the external tank strut heaters will be turned off; Columbia will transition to internal power and the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen outboard fill and drain valves will be closed.
T-minus 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Orbiter steering check now complete - the main engine nozzles in their start positions. The external tank liquid oxygen vent valve has been closed and pressurization of the LOX tank has started. Standing by to transfer Columbia's power-producing fuel cells to internal reactants. The units will begin providing all electricity for the mission beginning at T-50 seconds. And pilot Jeff Ashby has been asked to clear the caution and warning memory system aboard Columbia.
In the next few seconds the gaseous oxygen vent hood will be removed from the top of the external tank. Verification that the swing arm is fully retracted will be made by the ground launch sequencer at the T-37 second mark. Coming up on T-minus 2 minutes. The astronauts will be instructed to close and lock the visors on their launch and entry helmets. At T-minus 1 minute, 57 seconds the replenishment of the flight load of liquid hydrogen in the external tank will be terminated and tank pressurization will begin.
T-minus 3 minutes, 30 seconds. The main engine nozzles now being moved through a computer controlled test pattern to demonstrate their readiness to support guidance control during launch today.
T-minus 4 minutes. Activation of the APUs complete. The three units are up and running. The final helium purge sequence is under way in the main propulsion system. This procedure readies fuel system valves for engine start. In the next few seconds the aerosurfaces of Columbia will be run through a pre-planned mobility test to ensure readiness for launch. This is also a dress rehearsal for flight of the orbiter's hydraulic systems.
T-minus 5 minutes. Go for Auxiliary Power Unit start. Pilot Jeff Ashby is now flipping three switches in Columbia's cockpit to start each of the three APU's. The units, located in the aft compartment of Columbia, provide the pressure needed to power the hydraulic systems of the shuttle. The units will be used during the launch and landing phases of the mission for such events are moving the orbiter's aerosurfaces, gimbaling the main engine nozzles and deploying the landing gear.
Over the course of the next minute, the orbiter's heaters will be configured for launch by commander Eileen Collins, the fuel valve heaters on the main engines will be turned off in preparation for engine ignition at T-6.6 seconds and the external tank and solid rocket booster safe and arm devices will be armed.
T-minus 5 minutes, 25 seconds. APU pre-start is complete and the units are ready for activation. The orbiters flight data recorders now in the record mode to collect measurements of shuttle systems performance during flight.
T-minus 6 minutes. Pilot Jeff Ashby has been asked by Orbiter Test Conductor Roger Gillette to pre-start the orbiter Auxiliary Power Units. This procedure readies the three APU's for their activation at T-minus 5 minutes.
T-minus 7 minutes, 30 seconds. The ground launch sequencer is now pulling the orbiter access arm away from the crew hatch on the port side of the vehicle. The arm was the passage way for the astronauts to board Columbia last night. The arm can be re-extended in about a quarter of a minute should the need arise later in the countdown.
T-minus 8 minutes and counting. Pilot Jeff Ashby has flipped the switches in the cockpit of Columbia to directly connect the three onboard fuel cells with the essential power buses. Also, the stored program commands have been issued to the orbiter.
T-minus 9 minutes and counting. The countdown is ticking again. The ground launch sequencer is now up and running for today's launch of Columbia with NASA's third "Great Observatory" and the first woman space flight commander.
Standing by to pick up the countdown clocks in two minutes.
The final management poll has been completed by Launch Director Ralph Roe. All systems are go for launch at 12:31 a.m. EDT.
Once the countdown picks up, the Ground Launch Sequencer will be initiated. The master computer program is located in a console in Firing Room 1 of the Complex 39 Launch Control Center. The GLS is the master of events through liftoff. During the last 9 minutes of the countdown, the computer will monitor as many as a thousand different systems and measurements to ensure that they do not fall out of any pre-determine red-line limits. At T-minus 31 seconds, the GLS will hand off to the onboard computers of Columbia to complete their own automatic sequence of events through the final half minute of the countdown.
The launch team has been polled by NASA Test Director Doug Lyons and all systems were reported go with exception of weather. Countdown clocks are scheduled to resume from T-minus 9 minutes at 12:22 a.m. for liftoff at 12:31 a.m. EDT.
The launch of STS-93 will mark the 95th flight in the space shuttle program since 1981, the 70th since return-to-flight after Challenger, the 26th for Columbia and the second shuttle flight of 1999.
Launch of Columbia remains set for 12:31 a.m. EDT.
The Chandra X-Ray Observatory, attached to its Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) will ride into space in space shuttle Columbia's payload bay. The IUS and Chandra use airborne support equipment (ASE) installed in the payload bay to operate and deploy into space. The ASE consists of mechanical, avionics and structural equipment located in the orbiter. The structural and mechanical equipment attaches the IUS and the payload to the orbiter payload bay and provides the mechanisms to elevate the IUS and the payload and deploy it from Columbia. The ASE avionics provides command and information transfer between the upper stage and the shuttle during payload checkout.
Once on orbit, the astronauts will activate the spacecraft power system, and controllers at the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Control Center in Cambridge, Mass., will begin activating and checking out key observatory systems. Chandra controllers will activate and check out the observatory's computers, activate heaters to control the temperature of observatory systems and initiate venting of Chandra's imaging spectrometer. Controllers will also test the system that will place Chandra in a safe mode should an anomaly occur after deployment and test communications links between the observatory and the ground through Chandra's upper antenna.
Approximately five-and-a-half hours after launch, the shuttle crew will tilt the Chandra and its Inertial Upper Stage up to 29 degrees. Chandra controllers will then check radio communications links between the observatory and the ground through Chandra's lower antenna.
Following initial activation and checkout of Chandra by the Operations Control Center, the Columbia crew will configure the Inertial Upper Stage for deployment, disconnect umbilicals between the orbiter and payload, and raise the payload to its deployment attitude of 58 degrees above the payload bay.
The crew will then deploy the observatory and its upper stage a little over seven hours after launch before maneuvering the Shuttle to a safe distance from Chandra.
About an hour later, under the watchful eye of controllers at Onizuka Air Force Base, in Sunnyvale, Calif., the Inertial Upper Stage will fire its first stage solid rocket motor for about two minutes, then coast through space for about two minutes more. The first stage will separate, and the second stage will fire for almost two additional minutes. This will place the observatory into a temporary, or transitional, elliptical orbit peaking at 37,200 miles above the Earth and approaching the Earth to within 174 miles.
Chandra's twin solar arrays will then be unfolded, allowing Chandra to begin converting sunlight into 2,350 watts of electrical power to run the observatory's equipment and charge its batteries.
Next, the Inertial Upper Stage will separate from the observatory and Chandra's own propulsion system will gradually move the observatory to its final working orbit of approximately 6,214 by 86,992 miles in altitude. It will take approximately 10 days and five firings of Chandra's own propulsion system to reach its operating orbit.
Over the next two months, the observatory and its instruments will outgas, or vent, residual air and moisture trapped during its assembly on Earth, and controllers will begin the systematic process of turning on and checking out Chandra's science instruments and focusing the observatory, before it is fully commissioned to begin its five-year science mission.
T-minus 9 minutes and holding. The countdown has entered this last planned hold. The hold should last 10 minutes, 20 seconds. Because of the extended hold at T-minus 20 minutes, the new adjusted liftoff time is 12:31 a.m. EDT today.
NASA officials build these holds into the countdown schedule to give technicians time to work any problems that might develop. Also, managers will perform a series of readiness polls to verify all systems are go for launch.
At this time, there are no remaining technical problems and weather is currently go for launch.
The launch danger area has been cleared. Pilot Jeff Ashby reports the displays inside Columbia's cockpit have been configured. Also, the shuttle's main propulsion system helium system has been reconfigured by the astronauts.
T-minus 15 minutes and counting. The Orbital Maneuvering System/Reaction Control System crossfeed valves are now being configured for launch. Also, Mission Control in Houston has loaded the onboard computers with the proper guidance parameters.
The current and forecast weather conditions remain favorable for launch.
Countdown clocks are ticking to T-minus 9 minutes for a 10-minute hold.
Technicians are still working a communications problem with the command verify line from the MILA station to Kennedy Space Center.
T-minus 20 minutes and counting. Countdown is running again following a slight extension to the planned hold at T-minus 20 minutes. Clocks will tick down for the next 11 minutes to T-minus 9 minutes where the final planned hold is scheduled to occur.
Columbia's onboard computers are now transitioning to the Major Mode-101 program, the primary ascent software. Also, engineers are dumping the Primary Avionics Software System (PASS) onboard computers. The data that is dumped from each of PASS computers is compared to verify that the proper software is loaded aboard for launch.
In about one minute, the astronauts will configure the backup computer to MM-101 and the test team will verify backup flight control system (BFS) computer is tracking the PASS computer systems.
NASA Test Director Doug Lyons has just informed the launch team the countdown will not resume as scheduled in one minute. The team has worked a communications issue with the MILA tracking station at the Cape, and must reinitialize a launch processing system before the countdown can continue. This delay is not expected to last long.
Mission Control reports Ben Guerir, Morocco, will be the prime Transoceanic Abort Landing site where weather conditions are acceptable. The site would be called upon should an engine failure or major systems malfunction occur during Columbia's climb to orbit. The original prime site for STS-93, Banjul, The Gambia, is "no go" today due to poor weather.
Now half way through this 10-minute built-in hold. Weather conditions are continuing to look favorable for launch at 12:24 a.m. EDT.
Columbia will powered to space by its three liquid-fueled main engines and the twin solid rocket boosters. For STS-93, engine No. 1 is 2012, engine No. 2 is 2031 and engine No. 3 is 2019.
Engine 2012 has 27 starts with 9,258 seconds of hot-fire time, with flights on STS-35, 43, 45, 53, 60, 67, 74, 79, 83, 86, 90.
Engine 2031 has 22 starts with 10,744 seconds of hot-fire time, with flights on STS-29R, 33R, 31R, 41, 37, 48, 50, 55, 51, 62, 64, 67, 73, 79, 84, 87.
Engine 2019 has 35 starts with 13,804 seconds of hot-fire time with flights on STS-9, 28, 31, 26R, 28R, 36, 38, 37, 48, 50, 54, 57, 61, 65, 70, 76, 83, 86.
T-minus 20 minutes and holding. The countdown has stopped for this 10-minute planned hold. The launch team reports there are no problems being worked and weather conditions are currently within limits. Liftoff still set for 12:24 a.m. EDT.
During this hold, all computer programs in Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center will be verified to ensure that the proper programs are available for the countdown; the landing convoy status will be verified and the landing sites will be checked to support an abort landing during launch today; the Inertial Measurement Unit preflight alignment will be verified completed; and preparations are made to transition the orbiter onboard computers to Major Mode 101 upon coming out of the hold. This configures the computer memory to a terminal countdown configuration.
The simultaneous air-to-ground voice communications between the astronauts and Mission Control have been checked.
At this time, the ground pyro initiator controllers (PICs) are scheduled to be powered up. They are used to fire the solid rocket hold-down posts, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tail service mast, and external tank vent arm system pyros at liftoff and the space shuttle main engine hydrogen gas burn system prior to engine ignition.
Commander Eileen Collins has pressurized the gaseous nitrogen system for Columbia's Orbital Maneuvering System engines. Also, pilot Jeff Ashby has activated the gaseous nitrogen supply for the orbiter's Auxiliary Power Units' water boilers.
The Orbiter Closeout Crew is preparing to depart launch pad 39B.
Chief NASA astronaut Charlie Precourt, flying weather reconnassiance around Kennedy Space Center tonight, reports clear skies. The only rain shower appearing on his onboard radar is outside 100 miles.
The ground launch sequencer mainline activation has been completed.
Also activities scheduled at this point in the countdown include shifting the S-band antennas at the MILA tracking station here at the Cape from low power to high power. The site will provide voice, data and telemetry relay between Columbia and Mission Control during the first few minutes of flight. Coverage then is handed to a NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite in space. Also, the Eastern Test Range shuttle range safety system terminal count closed-loop test will be performed.
T-minus 45 minutes and counting. Countdown clocks are marching toward T-minus 20 minutes where a 10-minute built-in hold is scheduled. One further hold is planned at T-minus 9 minutes, which should last 10 minutes today. Launch remains scheduled for 12:24 a.m. EDT.
Following deployment from Columbia about 7 hours, 17 minutes into flight, the Chandra X-ray Observatory will rely on its attached Inertial Upper Stage motor to send the telescope toward its intended orbit. Here is an overview of the Boeing-built IUS:
On STS-93, the Inertial Upper Stage will help propel the Chandra X-ray Observatory from low Earth orbit into an elliptical orbit reaching one-third of the way to the Moon.
The Inertial Upper Stage is a two stage, inertially guided, three-axis stabilized, solid fuel booster used to place spacecraft into a high-Earth orbit or boost them away from the Earth on interplanetary missions. It is approximately 17 feet long and 9.25 feet in diameter, with an overall weight of approximately 32,500 pounds.
The Inertial Upper Stage first stage is comprised of a solid rocket motor and an interstage. The first stage solid rocket motor normally contains a maximum 21,580 pounds of propellant and generates an average of 44,000 pounds of thrust. For the Chandra mission, the first stage solid rocket motor propellant weight will be only 19,621 pounds due to weight constraints for the Shuttle. However, by adjusting the exhaust nozzle on the motor, the average thrust will be increased to 46,198 pounds and the burn time will be 125 seconds. The second stage consists of an equipment support section and a solid rocket motor. The second stage solid rocket motor has a normal maximum load of 6,000 pounds of propellant generating an average thrust of about 18,200 pounds. The Chandra mission will carry an additional 16 pounds of propellant at a reduced average thrust of 16,350 pounds. The second stage will fire for about 117 seconds.
The equipment support section houses the avionics systems of the Inertial Upper Stage. These systems provide guidance, navigation, control, telemetry, command and data management, reaction control and electrical power. All vital components of the avionics system, along with thrust vector actuators, reaction control thrusters, motor igniter and pyrotechnic stage separation equipment have backups. Once deployed from Columbia, the Inertial Upper Stage's computers will send commands to the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Until spacecraft separation, these commands will assist Chandra in controlling power, safety systems, recorders, propulsion and heaters.
The Orbiter Closeout Crew reports Columbia's hatch is closed and locked for flight.
The ground launch sequencer operator has been given the "go" to begin the GLS mainline activation. The GLS is the master computer program that will control the countdown beginning at T-minus 9 minutes.
T-minus 1 hour. The launch team continues counting down to the planned liftoff of space shuttle Columbia and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Launch remains scheduled for 12:24 a.m. EDT. The available launch window will extend until 2:20 a.m. EDT in order to get Columbia off the ground. There are no problems being worked and local weather conditions are currently reported acceptable for launch. However, the weather is being watched very closely because conditions are such that thunderstorm development is very possible.
The pre-flight alignment of Columbia's Inertial Measurement Units is now beginning, and will be completed by the T-minus 20 minute mark. The IMUs were calibrated over the past few hours of the countdown. The three units are used by the onboard navigation systems to determine the position of the orbiter in flight.
Also in the countdown, the booster test conductor will verify the chamber pressure in the twin solid rocket motors. Sensors measure pressure in the thrust chambers at nozzles of the boosters. The data tells onboard computers when the boosters have consumed their solid-fuel propellant and should be separated in-flight.
Now about 90 minutes from the scheduled launch of Columbia. The Orbiter Closeout Crew says it has now got the proper indication of hatch closure. Earlier, a problem was identified with a latch on the door. All appears to be fine now.
Primary payload aboard Columbia is the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Here is an overview of the telescope from the NASA press kit:
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the world's most powerful X-ray telescope, is the primary payload for space shuttle mission STS-93. With a combination of sensitive instruments and highly X-Ray reflective mirrors, the observatory will allow scientists to study the origin, structure and evolution of our universe in greater detail than ever before.
Complementing the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which are already in Earth orbit, the Chandra X-ray Observatory will study X-rays rather than visible light or gamma rays.
Since X-rays are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, space-based observatories are necessary to study these phenomena. By capturing images created by these invisible rays, the observatory will allow scientists to analyze some of the greatest mysteries of the universe. Chandra will serve as a unique tool to study detailed physics in a laboratory that cannot be replicated here on Earth - the universe itself.
Scientists will use the Chandra X-ray Observatory to learn more about black holes, to study quasars at the edge of the observable universe, and even to analyze comets in our own solar system. By mapping the location of X-ray energy throughout the universe, they hope to find clues to the identity of the missing mass - called "Dark Matter" - that must exist but cannot be seen.
Carried into space in Columbia's payload bay, Chandra will be deployed by the space shuttle crew, boosted to a transfer orbit by an Inertial Upper Stage, and propelled to its operating orbit by the observatory's own propulsion system. The observatory will undergo several weeks of activation and checkout before being turned over to the scientific community to begin its five-year research mission.
Named in honor of the late Indian-American Nobel Laureate Dr. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, the Chandra observatory was formerly known as the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF). The Chandra X-Ray Observatory program is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, for NASA's Office of Space Science.
The Orbiter Closeout Crew is now trying to close Columbia's hatch again.
The Orbiter Closeout Crew reports they have encountered a problem with latch No. 18 during closure of Columbia's hatch. A contingency plan to correct the problem is being worked.
The Orbiter Closeout Crew reports all non-flight items have been removed from the cockpit of Columbia, and the team has started the process to close and seal Columbia's hatch. Also, a video camera has been positioned inside the crew module to record the view during launch.
T-minus one hour, 40 minutes and counting. With the crew now inside Columbia, work is under way to ready the solid rocket boosters for flight. In the past few minutes, the SRB gas generator heaters on the hydraulic power units were scheduled to be turned on, and the aft skirt gaseous nitrogen purge should have started. Also, the SRB rate gyro assemblies should be up and operating for launch. The rate gyro assemblies transmit data to be utilized by Columbia's onboard navigation system to determine the rates of motion of the twin SRBs during the first stage of flight. The orbiter's navigation system then could order a guidance maneuver if needed. A torque test of the rate gryo assemblies is planned to begin at T-minus 1 hour, 25 minutes in the countdown.
In the Launch Control Center, the ground launch sequencer software has been initialized. The GLS is the master computer program that will control the countdown for the final nine minutes.
At this point no problems are being discussed and launch remains scheduled for 12:24 a.m. EDT.
The final Columbia astronaut is now aboard the spacecraft. Mission specialist 2, the flight engineer, Steve Hawley is the most experienced astronaut on STS-93. Hawley has flown four previous missions, STS-41D, in August and September, 1984, STS-61C in January, 1986, STS-31 in April, 1990 and STS-82 in February, 1997. He was born on Dec. 12, 1951 in Ottawa, Kansas. Before entering the crew hatch, Hawley put a paper bag over his head. The gag is Hawley's way of trying to break his bad luck of countless scrubs during his previous missions.
As flight engineer for Columbia, Hawley will be responsible for helping to monitor shuttle systems on the flight deck behind Collins and Ashby during launch and landing. Hawley will assist Coleman and Tognini during the deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. He will also be the primary operator of the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System, a small telescope which will be used to study the ultraviolet characteristics of planetary bodies. Hawley will conduct other secondary experiments during the course of the five-day mission.
French astronaut Michel Tognini has boarded space shuttle Columbia. Tognini will serve as mission specialist 3 on STS-93, his first shuttle flight. He previously flew into space in July and August, 1992, when he was launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket to spend two weeks aboard the space station Mir. Tognini was born on Sept. 30, 1949 in Vincennes, France.
Tognini will back up Coleman during the deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and would be the lead space walker in the event an unplanned space walk is required. In addition, Tognini will conduct a number of secondary experiments, including the operation of the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System and the shuttle's ham radio.
Mission specialist 1 Cady Coleman is now aboard Columbia for launch. She was born on Dec. 14, 1960 in Charleston, South Carolina. This will be her second mission following STS-73 in October and November, 1995.
Coleman's primary responsibility on STS-93 is the deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. She will insure that all systems associated with Chandra and its Inertial Upper Stage booster are in readiness for deployment and that the telescope is ready to begin its five-year astronomical mission. Coleman will also conduct a number of scientific and engineering experiments during the flight in the days following Chandra's deployment. Coleman would be one of the space walkers in the event an unplanned spacewalk is required during the flight.
Jeff Ashby, the rookie STS-93 pilot, has entered Columbia. Ashby was born on June 16, 1954 in Dallas, Texas.
He will be responsible for key shuttle systems during launch and landing, will lead any in-flight maintenance work which may be required and would serve as overall coordinator for any unplanned spacewalk which might be required. Ashby will also conduct a series of jet firings in an Air Force experiment in which an orbiting satellite will monitor the characteristics of jet plumes in space.
Columbia commander Eileen Collins has become the first astronaut to enter the shuttle for this third attempt at launching STS-93. She was born on Nov. 19, 1956 in Elmira, New York.
During STS-93, Collins is responsible for the overall success of the mission and the safety of the crew. She will also be responsible for an engineering test, referred to as the flycast maneuver, to assess the jet firing technique that will be used in September's Shuttle Radar Topography mission. This technique will be used on STS-99 to maintain the stability of a 200-foot radar mast which will tower above the cargo bay of the shuttle Endeavour.
Collins was the pilot on the STS-63 mission in February, 1995 and the STS-84 mission in May, 1997.
The Astrovan with the five astronauts has arrived at the surface of pad 39B. The crew will now take the fixed service structure's elevator up to the 195-foot level of the tower to the Orbiter Access Arm, which has the attatched White Room. The White Room provides the access into the space shuttle crew cabin and vehicle hatch. The orbiter close-out crew is now on station in the White Room to assist the astronauts in donning the rest of their equipment, and also to help them onboard and get them strapped into their assigned seats.
The astronauts are suited with their day-glo orange partial-pressure suits. During the launch and entry phases of the mission, the astronauts wear these suits called the Crew Altitude Protection System, or CAPS. The CAPS consists a helmet, communications cap, pressure garmet, anti-exposure/anti-gravity suit, glooves, and boots. The flight crew also wears escape equipment over the CAPS. The equipment includes an emergency oxygen system, a parachute harness, a parachute pack with an automated opener, a pilot chute, a drogue chute and main canopy, a life raft, two liters of emerengy drinking water, floation devices, a beacon and survival vest pockets containing a radio/beacon, signal mirror, shroud cutter, pen gun flare kit, sea dye marker, smoke flare. These materials are contained in a back-pack that the astronauts will don in the White Room prior to boarding Columbia.
The primary objective of the STS-93 mission is the deployment of the $1.5 billion Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the third in NASA's series of "Great Observatories".
Astronaut Cady Coleman is scheduled to deploy the observatory seven hours, 17 minutes after liftoff. Chandra will spend the next five years in a highly elliptical orbit which will take it one-third of the way to the moon to study invisible and often violent sources of astronomical activity in the distant universe.
Secondary objectives include the firing of Columbia's jet thrusters at various times during the flight to help an Air Force satellite gather data on the characteristics of jet plumes in orbit.
In addition, crew members will operate the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System, a small telescope which will be mounted at the side hatch window in Columbia's middeck to collect data on ultraviolet light originating from a variety of planetary bodies.
Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission Specialists Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini will conduct an in-flight assessment of an exercise system planned for the International Space Station. The on-orbit treadmill, referred to as the Treadmill Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (TVIS) system, should provide the crew with a reliable exercise device while also meeting International Space Station load transmission requirements to avoid disrupting on-orbit experiments. Comprehensive six-part overview of Discovery's mission written by veteran aerospace reporter William Harwood. launch timeline firing room 1 --voices This mosaic of images collected by NASA's Galileo spacecraft on Thanksgiving Day, November 25,1999 shows a fountain of lava spewing above the surface of Jupiter's moon Io. The active lava was hot enough to cause what the camera team describes as "bleeding" in Galileo's camera, caused when the camera's detector is so overloaded by the brightness of the target that electrons spill down across the detector. This shows up as a white blur in the image. This image taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its close flyby of Jupiter's moon Io on November 25, 1999 shows some of the curious mountains found there. The Sun is illuminating the scene from the left, and because it is setting, the Sun exaggerates the shadows cast by the mountains. By measuring the lengths of these shadows, Galileo scientists can estimate the height of the mountains. The mountain just left of the middle of the picture is 4 kilometers (13,000 feet) high and the small peak to the lower left is 1.6 kilometers (5,000 feet) high. GALILEO SEES DAZZLING LAVA FOUNTAIN ON IO During a recent close flyby of Jupiter's moon Io, NASA's Galileo spacecraft observed a fiery lava fountain shooting more than a mile above the moon's surface. The images, showing a curtain of lava erupting within a giant volcanic crater, will be unveiled today during the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco. Galileo took the pictures on Thanksgiving night, November 25. "We've finally caught a close-up of a massive volcanic eruption in action on Io," said Galileo project scientist Dr. Torrence Johnson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. "The erupting lava was so hot and bright, it over-exposed part of the camera picture and left a bright blur in the middle." These lava fountains were hot enough and tall enough to be observed by the NASA Infrared Telescope atop Mauna Kea, HI. By combining data from this telescope and Galileo observations, scientists have their best chance ever to pin down temperatures of the extremely hot lava on Io. The images show a region of giant calderas, or crater depressions, in Io's northern latitudes. They came from two of Galileo's onboard instruments -- the camera and near-infrared mapping spectrometer, which observes wavelengths invisible to the unaided eye. Lava fountains provide the most spectacular volcanic show on Earth, although the fountains found in Hawaii and elsewhere on Earth rarely exceed a few hundred yards in height. Because their appearances are infrequent and brief, it is very difficult to target these events. "Catching these fountains was a one-in-500-chance observation," said Galileo scientist Dr. Alfred McEwen from the University of Arizona in Tucson. New results from the most powerful volcano in the solar system, Loki, will also be discussed at the press conference. These include recent observations of Io by infrared telescopes in Hawaii and Wyoming, and two other Galileo instruments, the photopolarimeter radiometer and near-infrared mapping spectrometer. These data show large changes in the output of heat at Loki over time, with huge portions of the lava surface appearing to be of a uniform temperature. The telescope observations show that Loki began a period of major eruption in early September, and Galileo caught the eruption in full force during its October flyby of Io. While observing Loki's 120-mile (193-kilometer) wide caldera, one Galileo instrument found a sharply defined region that was much hotter than the rest. "We think the hot region is the site of the eruption that began in September," said Dr. John Spencer of Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ, a co-investigator for the photopolarimeter radiometer, which maps surface temperatures by measuring heat radiation. "Eventually the new lava may spill out to cover the rest of the caldera." The Io flybys were challenging and risky, because Io lies in an area of intense radiation from Jupiter's radiation belts, and radiation can harm spacecraft components. In fact, radiation- related problems garbled some of the pictures taken by Galileo during its October 10 Io flyby. Galileo team members thought the images were a lost cause, but engineers at JPL's Measurement Technology Center were able to fix them with the help of LabVIEW software from National Instruments in Austin, TX. "It would be like watching a scrambled cable signal on television, and then using software to unscramble the signal," Johnson said. "JPL engineers had to break the code that was inadvertently introduced by the radiation near Io." "They only had one-fourth of the data needed to reconstruct the images," said Dr. Laszlo Keszthelyi, a Galileo research associate at the University of Arizona. "These guys found a way to intelligently guess the missing bits. It seemed to be mathematically impossible, but they pulled it off." YOUNG TO LEAD MARS PROGRAM ASSESSMENT TEAM A. Thomas Young has been named by NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin to chair the Mars Program Independent Assessment Team which will review the agency's approach to robotic exploration of Mars in the wake of the recent loss of the Mars Polar Lander mission. Young retired as executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Corp. in 1995. During his career, Young has managed numerous complex, technically challenging programs, including serving as mission director of the 1976 NASA Viking landings on Mars. Young was director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, from 1980 to 1982, and then joined Martin Marietta Corp. in 1982 as vice president of aerospace research and engineering. He was named president and chief operating officer of Martin Marietta in 1990. The team will evaluate several recent successful and unsuccessful NASA missions to deep space, including Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Climate Orbiter, Mars Polar Lander, Deep Space 1 and Deep Space 2. It will analyze the budgets, content, schedule, management structure and scientific organization of these missions. It will then assess how these roles and responsibilities are related to mission safety, reliability and success. The assessment team will also review proposed revisions to NASA's existing Mars exploration program architecture as options are developed by a group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. The team will report their findings to the NASA administrator by mid-March 2000. Other members of the board will be established shortly. "I have asked Tom Young as the leader of this team to dig as deep as he can, ask as many questions as possible, and to operate in a completely independent environment," Goldin said. "He will have access to every document, every employee, and every NASA resource. We will be open and non-defensive. We will listen and learn. "We have had a string of successes, but we've also had a few failures and we must learn from both. This independent review team will provide us with some fundamental guidance about how to continue our bold program for exploring the solar system, and how to make it even better." The investigation into the likely cause of the apparent failure of the Mars Polar Lander mission will be conducted by an internal peer review at JPL and submitted to the Mars assessment team for their review. Mars Polar Lander and Mars Climate Orbiter are part of a series of missions in a long-term program of Mars exploration managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. SUMMARY OF STS-103 LAUNCH DAY CREW ACTIVITIES Thursday, December 6 11:30 a.m. Crew wake up 1 p.m. * 4:23 p.m. 4:53 p.m. Breakfast Lunch/Photo opportunity CDR, PLT, MS2 weather briefing 4:53 p.m. * 5:03 p.m. * 5:33 p.m. * 6:03 p.m. * 7:18 p.m. * 9:18 p.m. MS1, MS3, MS4, MS5 don launch and entry suits CDR, PLT, MS2 don launch and entry suits Depart for Launch Pad 39B Arrive at white room and begin ingress Close crew hatch Launch