                  
CyberCast
Multimedia
On the Web
 Still's First Mission |
 
Web posted July 1, 1997
By Amy Joyner
On the second go-around, the Florida weather is threatening the mission, the second for Augusta astronaut Lt. Cmdr. Susan Still.
Lt. Cmdr. Still and six other astronauts are scheduled to blast off at 1:50 p.m. today for a 16-day microgravity science laboratory mission. But thunderstorms are expected to soak the Florida space coast this afternoon and ground the shuttle Columbia.
``The weather conditions for (today) don't really look promising,'' said Air Force Capt. Scott Jacobs, launch weather officer, in a pre-launch briefing Monday afternoon. ``It can actually be worse than we've seen in the last couple of days.''
Typical of summer in Florida, the space center has been showered with intermittent afternoon thunderstorms the last five days, Capt. Jacobs said.
Hoping to outrun the thunderstorms, NASA flight managers Monday decided to launch the shuttle at 1:50 p.m., 47 minutes earlier than planned. NASA has 21/2 hours today in which to launch.
``We want to hopefully get out of town before the thunderstorms show up,'' said Tommy Holloway, NASA shuttle program manager.
To accommodate the change, mission managers sacrificed one of four daylight landing opportunities at the end of the mission on July 17.
``Giving up one of the Edwards (Air Force Base) landing opportunities was well worth the potential gain of getting up a little earlier and trying to avoid those thunderstorms we've been talking about,'' Mr. Holloway said.
Despite the change, Air Force forecasters predicted that seabreeze-generated thunderstorms have a 90 percent chance of prohibiting the launch.
In case of a delay, the astronauts will try again Wednesday, though the weather isn't expected to be much better. Thunderstorms are again likely, Capt. Jacobs said, and there's a 70 percent chance of bad weather prohibiting the launch.
If NASA tries unsuccessfully to launch the shuttle today and Wednesday, liftoff will be postponed until Friday or Saturday, said Bob Sieck, director of shuttle operations.
The astronauts will rest on Thursday, giving NASA scientists time to refresh some of the 33 experiments the astronauts will be taking to space.
The astronauts seemed confident mission STS-94 will lift off on time, Lt. Cmdr. Susan Still said.
``Susan said today they're doing everything they can to go tomorrow,'' said Mrs. Still, the astronaut's stepmother.
This will be the second time Lt. Cmdr. Still and her crewmates have flown together.
Their first mission in April was cut short because of a defective fuel cell, one of three that generates power for the shuttle.
The astronaut's family became space-shuttle savvy after that launch, which also was delayed a day so NASA could cover several exposed water lines in the payload bay with insulated blankets.
The delay left the astronaut's friends and family from Augusta scrambling for hotel rooms. This time, they booked the rooms an extra day just in case, said Barbara Derrick, secretary for Lt. Cmdr. Still's father, Dr. Joe Still.
``I guess it's a little calmer this time,'' said Dr. Still, as cool as ever. ``The astronauts are calmer this time.
``Everything seems to be in order and everybody's ready to go.''
|
|
Comments or questions? Contact the webmasters @ugusta. |
