Augusta Georgia: still@ugusta: Shuttle passengers to include four seedlings 6/29/97

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Still's First Mission

Shuttle passengers to include four seedlings

Web posted June 30, 1997

Weather outlook poor for Tuesday liftoff

By Amy Joyner
Staff Writer

When the shuttle Columbia blasts off Tuesday, Lt. Cmdr. Susan Still won't be the only Georgia native onboard.

Four loblolly pine seedlings grown in the state are hitching a ride to space as part of STS-94's microgravity space laboratory.

The tiny trees - each 81/2 inches tall - were grown at Georgia-Pacific's nursery in Oliver, Ga., for a study on how weightlessness affects wood and lignin production in the Southern tree species.

Lignin is a natural gluelike substance that binds wood fibers together. It must be extracted from wood chips during paper and pulp production.

Scientists with Georgia-Pacific want to learn how to better manipulate lignin production to reduce cost and energy usage in papermaking, company spokesman Ken Haldin said.

During the 16-day mission, astronauts will tend to the tiny trees and 49 other plant varieties in their space garden and greenhouse.

After the mission, the space pine seedlings will be compared to four other trees being raised in near-identical conditions at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The weightlessness of space and the gravity on Earth are the only differences in the seedlings' environments.

Four other Georgia loblolly pines were also onboard the shuttle during the first microgravity science laboratory mission in April. But the research could not be completed because the mission was cut short 12 days by a faulty fuel generator.

During this month's reflight, astronauts will conduct 33 experiments in space, testing how the absence of gravity affects plant growth, combustion and crystal growth. Lt. Cmdr. Still is the pilot for the mission.

Weather outlook dismal for Tuesday launch CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - NASA aimed for a Tuesday launch of space shuttle Columbia despite forecasts calling for thunderstorms, putting the chance of acceptable launch weather at just 10 percent.

Shuttle test conductor John Guidi said managers would decide Monday whether to proceed with the 2:37 p.m. liftoff. The team could push the launch into the evening, if necessary.

Only slightly better weather is expected Wednesday.

Columbia contains the same laboratory experiments that flew in April. That mission was aborted 12 days early because of a defective fuel cell that has since been replaced.