the countdown for the launch of Columbia
on space shuttle mission STS 62 is
continuing on schedule this morning
we're currently in the standard two-hour
built-in hold at the t-minus three hour
mark launch of Columbia on mission STS
62 remains on time to occur again at
8:50 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time from Kennedy
Space Center's pad 39b
and we have live video of the crew at
breakfast seated in the center is
commander John Kasper on the end we have
our mission specialist Pierre through it
and see the next to him is our pilot
today Andy Allen again commander John
Kasper mission specialists Sam game our
and rounding out the five-member crew is
the lone female on board today mission
specialist Marsha Ivins all five members
of the flight crew were awakened at
about four o'clock this morning
following breakfast they will be given a
briefing of today's launch time weather
and start putting their flight equipment
together this is shuttle launch control
at t-minus three hours and holding the
ice team continues to make their
assessments of any abnormal buildups of
ice or frost on the external tank and
other shuttle components currently they
are standing on the mobile launcher
platform upon which rests the external
tank the solid rocket boosters and of
course the orbiter itself
we have about 20 minutes remaining in
our hold this morning and we're standing
by for live video of the crew donning
their flight suits and we do in fact
have video of the crew and their crew
quarters which is located in the
operations and check-out building at the
Kennedy Space Center's industrial area
commander John Casper preparing to make
his third trip into space today putting
on his communications cap
Kasper is from Greenville South Carolina
and he'll be flanked by our pilot today
Andrew Allen who was born in
Philadelphia
Andy Allen is making his second trip
into space today
and writing a hello to Jessica and
Meredith
taking a more relaxing pose of course is
another member of the flight crew Marsha
Ivins sees herself in the mirror and
sees herself on NASA select TV and she
looks ready to go she's they've all been
in town since this past Monday afternoon
Marsha is making her third trip into
space today
mission specialist Sam Kumar has just
picked up what might be the sixth crew
member
this is Theodore Tracy and he has given
to the crew by the students of the Gulf
Gate Elementary School in Sarasota
Florida
of course we're checking on the status
of his health stabilization mission
specialist Sam d'amour again one of five
crew members that will be flying today
Sam's prepared to make his third trip
into space
back to our commander Casper this is
shuttle launch control and we are at
t-minus three hours and Counting
and the fewer exiting the quarters at
this time
commander Casper pilot Andy Allen
with Marsha Ivins here through it Sam
game on
the crew have arrived in the white room
and Commander John Kasper is presently
being suited he will be the first enter
the vehicle
piloting our flight today will be Andrew
Allen he is being assisted right now and
making final preparations to be placed
into the orbiter he was selected as an
astronaut in 1988 and is making his
second flight into space today
mission specialists appear through it is
making his third spaceflight today
you'll be the next to enter the orbiter
mission specialist number three Marsha
Ivins is making last-minute checks
before she prepares to enter the vehicle
Sam d'amour is mission specialist number
two and he will be the last to enter the
vehicle this morning the other is
already in their seats at this time
okay looks great down here hopefully
give you guys and marks they're great
ride here in a few minutes okay well
just want to thank you involved in all
the folks on the world's greatest launch
team for all your hard work that you've
put in to get us ready to go and we're
looking for folks and successful nation
on Columbia well thank you sir it's
always a privilege analyzer and the NPD
go to proceed the orbiter access arm is
now being retracted away from the
vehicle this is the walkway used by the
crew to gain entry into and out of the
vehicle and it can be returned to
position within seconds if need be
t-minus seven minutes and Counting
a final gimbal of the main engine bills
is now underway this is a final check of
the main engines prior to launch yeah
okay clearing memory thereby no
unexpected error
t-minus two minutes 20 seconds saying
counting all is ready to fly today on
NASA's four-and-a-half million pounds
space shuttle vehicle Thank You orbiter
test conductor has requested that Andy
Allen clear the caution and warning
memory system and that has been been
reported complete minus two minutes and
Counting everything continues to look
good for launch this morning in about 90
seconds the space shuttle Columbia will
begin its 14 a day extended duration
orbiter flight one of the longest in
space shuttle history
t-minus one minute and Counting
t-minus 50 seconds and we're
transferring to orbital internal power
at this time Columbia is now running off
its three onboard fuel cells
and we have a go for autosequence start
Columbia's onboard computers have
primary control of all the vehicles
critical functions t-minus 2015 eleven
ten nine eight seven we have a go for
main engine start four three two one and
liftoff liftoff of the space shuttle
Columbia as NASA continues on the
cutting-edge of microgravity research
just is now controlling Roger Allam
Mission Control sees a good roll
maneuver placing Columbia on the proper
heading pretty good engines at a 104
percent three engines are throttling
back now easing the build-up of
aerodynamic loads as Columbia continues
to accelerate rapidly through the dense
lower altitudes three engines now at 67%
Columbia is traveling over 500 miles an
hour at 52 seconds
all systems are performing well
let me go at throttle up all three
engines are now running at full throttle
all systems are performing well altitude
is now fifty nine thousand feet
downrange distance seven nautical miles
Columbia's traveling over one thousand
miles per hour at one minute 29 seconds
Columbia continues to climb in a
relatively steep angle at this point
relying heavily on the solid rocket
boosters to triple its rate of speed
over the next 60 seconds delivering a
combined six and a half million pounds
of thrust the boosters will burn out and
separate at two minutes six seconds time
now one minute 48 seconds all systems
are performing well altitude 100 16,000
feet downrange distance 18 nautical
miles
Mission Control sees a good booster
separation Columbia is now flying free
powered by its own main engines second
stage guidance is now in control
altitude one hundred eighty four
thousand feet Columbia performance
nominal that's an indication that the
boosters have done their job is designed
in the main engines as well altitude is
now one hundred ninety eight thousand
feet downrange distance forty four
nautical miles Columbia is now traveling
over three thousand miles per hour this
is Mission Control Houston we're taking
live television through the Goldstone
tracking and television station in
California as Columbia completes its
first orbit of the earth on this 14-day
mission currently the crews in the
process of opening the the latches of
the payload bay door along the
centerline once the center line latches
are all confirmed open the bulkhead
latches both the forward and aft will be
opened and once they've been unlatched
the motor drives will be commanded to
begin driving the doors open as at this
point the starboard payload bay door is
in motion
and that we've good downlink and that's
some tremendous camcorder footage
external fuel tank later re-enters the
atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean and
burns up before reaching the surface so
up here you're an EP photo down like I
said everybody just captivated down here
it is just absolutely awesome up until
that point that call from the
communicate said they're now starting to
power up Columbia's mechanical arm seen
here in a live television from the
spacecraft
it's Mission Control Houston that
television view from Colombia's lower
deck showed mission specialist Sam gar
game are working with the advanced
protein crystal growth experiment or APC
G and activating the thermal enclosure
system for that experiment or TAS
what are overly has on its the control
page that it has to three circles that
basically to zones that are horizontal
vertical and what we try to do is
maintain the cross Center on our monitor
or the red reflector at the middle which
is actually the image of the camera is
the mirror then we try to keep the
crosshair centered between the two
reflectors on the left and right as well
as they weren't on the top of bottom
while keeping the Cross center on the
image of the camera if we do that during
this cast as we've accomplished
objective so what we're trying to do is
see how the player can do that we use
the ads or zones on the overlay to
determine these these tolerance that we
can fly on the arms
ampère we're real happy with the view
the e is G folks are going to send some
commands shortly and we should see some
motion in the mirror
there's something slip and we saw that
big close-up about monitors you're
saying he was saying but a lot of times
the same stuff we were saying from uh
those two displays
I kind of find in the crosshairs because
the with the mirror and the Sun this
play was really washed out since it's
quite a while to find the crotch area we
found me the camera reflection through
it right away
stand aside at standpoint yeah hard time
finding the crosshairs neither us could
see it for quite a while it will be
rotated to allow the flat panel portion
and be inserted into the slot at the top
of the carrier and a the insertion of
that flat panel portion will be aligned
using a camera that's on the side of the
magnetic end effector at the end of the
mechanical arm
this is Mission Control Houston this
live television from Columbia's payload
Bay shows the taskbar for the dexterous
in defector and currently in work an
insertion of it into the slot at the top
of the carrier for the end effector
equipment the test bar is being held by
a magnetic in defector at the end of
Colombia's mechanical arm once it's
inserted into the slot simulating a task
that might be used in the future for
space station construction with a
radiator the panel will be rotated to
both furnace is large cylindrical
looking experiment and I was doing a
flood of bottles and here we're looking
at how mental solidified with the
potential benefit there being of making
stronger lighter this is Mission Control
Houston the lid is now opening for the
limited duration candidate materials
exposure experiment in the cargo bay the
LDC ii experiment holds a total of about
250 samples of various materials that
are under study for use in space craft
in building future spacecraft and I will
study the where experienced by them and
how well they hold up in the low Earth
orbit environment
we got the picture John and we see the
door open
this is Mission Control Houston once
again we're receiving some videotape
replays provided by the crew of Columbia
orbiting 140 nautical miles above the
earth now looking at the opening of the
instrument door for the Space Shuttle
backscatter ultraviolet experiment that
we're looking at right here as it cools
down this gas free on this experiment is
going to go ahead reaches critical point
and the temperature will come to this
point the properties of what we're
looking at will take us a couple minutes
and I'll fast-forward through a little
bit of it
you
the temperature continues to cool the
little bit and the gas will go ahead
separate again and we'll go ahead so
back to the point that we can still
there but it's kind of so it's
translucency but this is Mission Control
Houston right now we're taking some live
down like television pictures from
camera D in the payload Bay that's one
of the low-light cameras in the Arsenal
cameras onboard the flashes that you see
and the glow our thruster firings as
Columbia maneuvers into a new attitude
with its belly facing in the direction
of travel
in the foreground there there's a
diagonal plate running at about a 45
degree angle that is the plate from the
experimental investigation of spacecraft
glow which is looking at their
interaction of spacecraft surfaces and
atomic oxygen in orbit Columbia is now
approaching the Midwest and will cross
off the northern East Coast the United
States
also moving into sunrise
thank you this is CG we're going
crystals when we hit it see the very
bottom rocker and I record the
temperature right now
so what we're doing is every day we take
video of each of the top tray it's not
only at welcome baby we're trying to do
is trying to characterize how they grow
into patients to really understand how
they grow this particular day was the
day where we did all three trays and we
also did thirty five-millimeter supply
to be of all three trays one thing I can
add about 3d CG is it's really a
two-person job
Marta very carefully aligns the light
and pulls the trays out I have to get
the camera off set up focus if the
Alliant the polarizing filter they just
get off take the picture it's a really
taken to accomplish the test I just
picked a select bunch of these some of
them move very dramatic like this one
summer that's a dramatic but I want the
investigators to have an idea with
wallop ligers you know in the
cross-section of the ones we did
the big lamken tears are called the gaps
and those little things they are where
they call the FDA just serving you in
college a checklist acronyms was what
the real pieces of hardware look like
and Sam scorn in closing here now to see
some of these were growing really fun
and filaments this is the set that we
terminated yesterday by mistake so I
just thought I would record all of them
okay we have a great picture if it'll
look like really fine ribbon tied off at
the top at the bottom there here's a
sprout and sprouts grown to the end of
the tube now since the first time we
looked at it a couple days ago
sort of fuzz growing on it it's the only
one I've seen like that can't be ok this
was from the CCB a photo step three and
I tell you this because that's the only
food and behavior you see a little guy
was swimming around in circles there's
another couple guys swimming around in
this one too and we got a good image of
that Marsha Lemmy Houston we see looking
at speck 22 just for your info the I am
user in such good shape that no align is
required today okay looks like they are
Mission Control Houston we're now
receiving downlink from the space
shuttle Columbia where the STS 62 crew
is getting started on its workday
Sam gamer is getting prepared for his
ramp test and the lower body negative
pressure unit that's a 45-minute test
within the lower body negative pressure
unit and the same procedure will be
repeated a little bit later today by a
pilot Andy Allen
thank God just so y'all see what we're
doing up here with eight this is our
configuration we've got the Nikon F for
a image intensifier than a 50 millimeter
lens said it grading another 50
millimeter the last squit and then
another lens and all that looking out so
Taylor's day what a good start to try to
capture the growth
forgot we gotta started here we were
sitting up by I think for the last pass
well we've got this huge camera in there
pushes my assistant you see she's got a
red light a little light attached to
your forehead cos when we do these
things we put out on the light so this
is why we were preparing for the actual
pass I've got my light I'm holding it in
my mouth but we get this device almost
up with a big bracket the overhead
window and we have a a black bag it's
attached to the very in front of the
camera that we put around the widow to
keep any light from inside the cabinet
from getting after the lens and then
once it gets real done we close our
lights off in the cabin and turn a
little red lights on and then for the
image intensifier on this particular
path we were shooting at Orbiter global
phenomena that we see when the atomic
oxygen impacts the orbiter and using the
image intensifier to
yes it's because your kids got some
this is Mission Control Houston
Commander John Casper's in the middle of
his exercise session with the bicycle
ergometer
you can see in this picture how much the
ERG ometer sways and moves as a crew
member as a crewmember exercises if this
exercise device were hard mounted on the
shuttle floor these vibrations would be
sent into the orbiter structure and
could very possibly disturb the
microgravity environment in which the
protein crystals and the other
experiments need to conduct their
science yes we do
put your counter folks bring justice
Springs every brought up work Yandy and
now we got a good view of that
no we're like test
I do that it certainly looks like you're
making maximum effective use of all the
space you have there that and we have a
good view of flight deck and a pilot
who's ready for bed
one of the things that should come to
mind for the controllers particularly as
they see us get ready and configure to
sleep up here you notice that all five
crew members are sleeping at the same
time you know while this vehicle is
hurling through space at 17,500 miles an
hour we're basically traveled five miles
every second across the surface of the
earth and it just goes to show you what
trust and confidence about this team up
here has on the team on the ground
because we know that you guys are doing
your job down there and do it well
watching over every aspect of our safety
and performance of this orbiter and it
makes me proud to be a part of this team
and I worked on the control center for
12 flights myself and I was very proud
of controlling them and and again when
you come up here on orbit and you put
that kind of trust and faith in those
people I'd say if you don't make it very
problem
and yeah I know we were a bit redundant
because we played the service medley a
few days ago but I think you'll
appreciate the the song for this morning
I think when you get your mail you'll
find out why we got this morning in our
morning mail this is a momentous
occasion and I would have a little
ceremony here to turn over here
attention to orders mission elapsed
times 5 days 19 hours 25 minutes aboard
the space shuttle Columbia and orbit is
in recognition of 17 years of
distinguished service to the United
States as a Marine officer and
demonstrated potential for future
leadership and responsibility the United
States Marine Corps has selected Andrew
M Allen for promotion to the rank of
lieutenant colonel by the authority
vested in me as commander of the space
shuttle Columbia I hereby promote major
Allen effective immediately
to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel
consideration of this baseline sign
Johnny Caspar commander STS 62 ok major
oil and center
congratulations colonel
yeah
okay then we have the mark 1
there we go this is a double frankfurter
sandwich
Hey
all right
goodbye let me I used to in good morning
we like the tans forget the ice crystals
just at the right angle there there's a
similarity commander with the
lady I it's hard to judge this up here
but I'd say it's slightly the part about
the car says you about here any second
you'll get a lot better shot of it
true
Oh
this is milder
ready ready stop
this is great