KSC Contact: Joel Wells
Monday, December 6, 1999
(9:45 p.m. EST)
MISSION: STS-103 – 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission
VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
LOCATION: Pad 39B
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: December 11 at 12:13 a.m. EST (under review)
TARGET LANDING DATE/TIME: December 20 at about 9:21 p.m. EST
LAUNCH WINDOW: 38 minutes
MISSION DURATION: about 9 days and 21 hours
CREW: Brown, Kelly, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier, Clervoy
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 317 nautical miles/28.45 degrees
Work in progress: The seven-member STS-103 flight crew arrived at KSC’s
Shuttle Landing Facility tonight at about 8:20 p.m. During the days leading
up to launch, the crew will participate in orbiter and mission
familiarization activities. They will take opportunities to fly in the
Shuttle Training Aircraft and will undergo routine preflight medical exams.
At Launch Pad 39B, workers continue efforts to close out Shuttle Discovery’s
aft compartment for flight. During routine engine compartment inspections
today, workers found a 1/8-inch nick in the insulation of a Shuttle main
engine wire. The wire provides command and feedback support for Discovery’s
No. 2 main engine. Following an engineering evaluation meeting this evening,
Shuttle managers decided to replace the damaged wire and reported that a
one-day launch slip is possible. Managers will further assess the impact to
the processing schedule and expect more information by late tomorrow.
-end-
