Space shuttle Columbia commander James Halsell, lower left corner, with his crew, clockwise from top, Gregory Linteris, Roger Crouch, Janice Voss, Michael Gernhardt, Susan Still and Donald Thomas, send a Happy 4th of July greeting from 184 miles above theEarth in this image from television taped Thursday.AP Photo/NASA TV

Astronauts celebrate holiday, muse about Mars

Web posted July 5, 1997

Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts spent their Independence Day holiday toiling back in their flag-draped laboratory and musing about a trip to Mars.

``I'll sign up for the (Mars) program any day they pass that sign-up sheet around,'' shuttle commander James Halsell Jr. said Friday as NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft was about to land on the red planet.

``You bet,'' added astronaut Janice Voss.

Mission Control kept the seven-member crew abreast of Pathfinder news.

To mark the holiday, Mission Control radioed up a recording of Kate Smith singing ``God Bless America.''

``We figured if you've got to work on the Fourth of July, this is absolutely the best thing to be involved with,'' Mission Control told the crew.

On their fourth day in space, the astronauts worked through computer problems with one of the combustion experiments and set more small fires so researchers could observe the behavior of flames in weightlessness. They also conducted more metal experiments.

This is Columbia's - and the crew's - second trip to space in three months. A defective power generator caused the mission to be cut short in April.

The 16-day mission is due to end July 17.

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