For Release: Sept. 25, 1995

Steve Roy
Office of Media Services
(205) 544-0034
steve.roy@msfc.nasa.gov

NOTE TO EDITORS: 95-64N

LOCAL ASTRONAUT AND MARSHALL SCIENCE SYSTEMS FEATURED ON NEXT SHUTTLE FLIGHT

A local researcher and several experiments from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. will fly aboard the next Space Shuttle mission, STS-73, scheduled for launch at 8:35 a.m. CDT, Thursday, Sept. 28.

Science activities of the mission, which will carry the second United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2), will be controlled from the Spacelab Mission Operations Control Center at Marshall. From there teams of researchers will manage a wide variety of experiments in fluid physics, materials sciences, biotechnology, combustion science and commercial space processing technologies.

Marshall scientist Dr. Fred Leslie will fly as a payload specialist on the mission. It will be the first spaceflight for Leslie, a researcher and manager in the center’s Space Sciences Laboratory. He also is a co-investigator for one of the USML-2 experiments, the Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell, and was the mission scientist for the 1992 Spacelab-J mission.

USML-2 will feature three Marshall-managed experiment systems: the Single-Locker Protein Crystal Growth experiment, which will house a record-setting 800 protein samples; the Spacelab Glovebox, which will enhance crew involvement in seven investigations; and the Crystal Growth Furnace, which will be used for four separate investigations, including a Marshall-developed experiment studying alloy semiconductors.

Also, the Spacelab will house a Marshall-developed and managed technology demonstration known as the Suppression of Transient Accelerations By Levitation Evaluation (STABLE). It is designed to isolate science experiments from tiny disturbances originating from crew movement and inflight Shuttle operations.

Potential applications from the Marshall-managed science systems and experiments range from better crystals which may improve telecommunications, through medical instruments and treatments for life-threatening diseases to providing clues in the study of Earth’s climate.

NASA’s USML-2 Spacelab News Center in Trailer 254 at the Marshall Center will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, during the mission. The News Center will also be open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends and holidays. News Center telephone numbers are (205) 544-6381 and (205) 544-0034.

Written USML-2 status reports will be issued by the News Center at approximately 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays and at 6 a.m. on weekends. The reports will be available on Internet through the World Wide Web, Marshall Center payload homepage at: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov.spacelab/usml2 or the payloads portion of the mission "Overview" section of the NASA Shuttle Web homepage at: http://shuttle.nasa.gov. The status reports will also be available on the NASA Headquarters Public Affairs Internet Bulletin Board address at: ftp.pao.hq.nasa.gov. Media desiring to receive the status reports by telefax should contact the news center. Media may also access an audio recording of each status report by calling (205) 544-6397.

Television news organizations may arrange live interviews with mission participants in the Spacelab Mission Operations Control Center during the mission by calling the News Center. Print and broadcast media may also arrange telephone interviews through the News Center. Mission photography of on-orbit activities and video will be also be available on request.

Twenty-four hour coverage of the mission originating from both Marshall Center and Johnson Space Center will be broadcast on NASA Television which is available via satellite and many cable systems. Programming can be accessed on Spacenet-2, Transponder 5, channel 9, at 69 degrees west longitude; frequency 3880.0 Mhz, audio 6.8 Mhz. Although air-to-ground communications and mission television will be broadcast around-the-clock, there will be no mission commentary between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. from either the Johnson or Marshall Centers.

In addition to ongoing mission coverage, "Mission Update", a daily summary of mission science activities, and periodic news media briefings will be carried on NASA TV.