Columbia prepares for return to Earth

Augusta astronaut Susan Still wraps up second space flight

Web posted July 17, 1997

By Amy Joyner
Staff Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Columbia's astronauts closed down their onboard science laboratory Wednesday, preparing for their return to Earth today.

The shuttle Columbia should land at 6:46 a.m. today at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., ending a 16-day mission to study how microgravity affects combustion, metals and protein crystal growth.

The shuttle's pilot is Lt. Cmdr. Susan Still, who was raised in Augusta. Lt. Cmdr. Still, making her second spaceflight, is the second woman to pilot the shuttle. Later, she may become one of NASA's first female mission commanders.

After a disappointingly short flight three months ago, NASA scientists are excited with the results streaming down from Columbia during the STS-94 mission, Mission Operations Director Lee Briscoe said Tuesday in a mission status briefing from Houston's Johnson Space Center.

The same astronauts traveled to space together in April, but the mission was cut short 12 days by a defective fuel cell that generates power for the Columbia. During the shortened mission, the astronauts worked round-the-clock to finish as many of the science experiments as possible.

Though the first mission was brief, scientists were able to use the results to revise some of the experiments for the STS-94 reflight. This time around, the astronauts' laboratory work is ``even exceeding thier expectations,'' Mr. Briscoe said.

For instance, the astronauts have been able to set dozens more small fires in space than planned because it takes only half the time expected to burn drops of fuel.

Shortly before midnight, the astronauts closed down the bus-sized science lab in Columbia's payload bay and began ``turnng the orbiter from a science platform back to a flying machine,'' Mr. Briscoe said.

Columbia has two chances to land at Kennedy Space Center today - at 6:46 a.m. and at 8:21 a.m. ``The weather's looking really good,'' Mr. Briscoe said. ``The only thing we'll be watching is the chance of ground fog.''

NASA meteorologists are concerned that slight ground fog this morning may prevent the earlier landing.

If Columbia can't land today because of weather, the crew will try to land again Friday morning at Kennedy Space Center.

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