good morning we begin our live coverage
on NASA television of mission STS 85
here at NASA's Jonathan Adi Space Center
in five room three of the launch control
center today NASA will embark on the
86th space shuttle flight in its 16 year
history of the shuttle program the near
11-day mission features the deployment
and retrieval of a satellite designed to
study Earth's middle atmosphere and
significant tests of hardware that could
be used in the Assembly of the
International Space Station
this is shuttle launch control we have
the flight crew at their breakfast table
we have payload commander Jan Davis
she's flying for the third time today
and we have Bob Curbeam Shuttle rookie
flying for the first time today and
commander Curt brown making his fourth
time and flight today first time is
commander Kent roaming her two times
shuttle veteran and we have Steven
Robinson flying for the first time today
and Canadian astronaut B Arnie trig
misen also flying on the shuttle for the
first time today crew has been awake now
for just about half an hour getting
ready for the first flight day on their
upcoming mission who is ready to go they
came to Florida Monday evening and have
been at Kennedy Space Center preparing
for the flight over the last couple of
days
got commander Curt Brown who's just
walked into the suit-up room by
following the weather briefing this is
his fourth flight and he has overall
responsibility for commanding the flight
this will be his first flight as
commander he served as pilot of three
previous missions on STS 92 and we have
a pilot Kent Rominger
as a pilot he will assist Brown at the
flight controls this will be his third
flight and his birthday today he's
forty-one years old he will also be
assisting a commander during the
rendezvous and retrieval of the Christa
spa's payload and will also be involved
in several payloads including the solid
surface combustion experiment we have
Canadian astronaut B Arnie trig listen
making his first flight on the shuttle
today trick misen was born in Reykjavik
Iceland we've got Jan Davis she's making
her third flight today
she's the payload commander with overall
responsibility of servicing tasks she
will operate the robot arm to deploy and
retrieve the German Christa spa's
payload she'll also be involved in the
manipulator flight demonstration which
is a small fine robot arm and we have
mission specialist Robert Kirby making
his first flight today on the shuttle he
serves as flight engineer and will
assist the commander and pilot with
asset and reentry checklist and in
monitoring all vehicle systems and we
have mission specialist Stephen Robinson
this will be his first flight he is the
prime mission specialist for the Christa
spa's payload and he will work with Dan
Davis on with the robot arm activity and
will operate several experiments
we're now looking at the final
inspection team on the top of the mobile
launcher platform this crew has
binoculars and they perform photo
documentation of the vehicle
configuration and cryogenic surfaces
they collect data with an infrared
scanner they're looking at numerical
data and they correlate it with infrared
data
crews getting ready for a 10-day mission
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that is done the CDR contract CDR
Houston you're allowed and cleared the
one at hurt we see up close and personal
there good morning Donna now we see the
birthday boy getting into his seat the
pilot he's only gone two to two
handrails one in the center of the near
the windows and one on his right side
and then as they hold his parachute he
pulls himself down into the seat to play
okey cdcl3 12 go ahead it's a sweet I
see field 143 please
that's crew member in Bob Curbeam in the
ms2 seat here I'll give you step 5 70
work those quads if you want they
perform they still sell birds I'm
channel one five three okay oh but I
know as well who do you see there
who's the fuse always got okay
copy that
range weather sluggish early Lucas take
colostrum manager manager went out the
MSP is not attractive anything and it
looks like was open launcher clear to
proceed with the launch counsel copy
that and discovery looks like it is
ready to go you guys have a great night
and we'll see you back here
I could totally sin in MPD or clearly
long a profile test of the orbiters
aerosurfaces has started the orbital
flight control services are being moved
through a pre-programmed pattern to
verify they are ready for launch and the
three main engines will begin with in
position for launch
and slicer close the lock your visors
the mission 802 12 on behalf of the
lunch thing good luck with your mission
and Rommel happy birthday robot the
lasers handle thanks for that birthday
wish we'll be the two best candles I
overhead and other copies Bajoran sitter
to the 11th over
EPL 8 we have a go for main engine start
five four three two one
booster ignition and liftoff of
discovery on a mission to study planet
Earth
Houston is now controlling the roll
maneuver is complete with discovery is
now in a heads-down wins level position
headed to a 100 60 nautical mile market
all three main engines now throttling
down to 67 percent of rated thrust as
the orbiter passes through the area of
maximum aerodynamic pressure on the
vehicle in the lower regions of the
Earth's atmosphere telemetry indicates
all three auxiliary power units and fuel
cells continuing to perform well
discovery go at throttle up
you