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From: starrfie@hydro.la.asu.edu (Sumner Starrfield) Subject: MCC Status Report 19 Date: Sat, 11 Dec 93 9:31:45 MST Mission Control Center STS-61 Status Report #19 Saturday, December 11, 1993, 7 a.m. CST Endeavour's crew spent the day watching the world go by as flight controllers on the ground had a less hectic day preparing for Monday's scheduled landing. Highlights of the rest day in space follow with all times given in Central Standard Time. As many people do on the weekend, the astronauts slept in two hours, sending a good morning call to Mission Control at about 8 p.m. Flight controllers returned greetings with Willie Nelson's "Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." Commander Dick Covey said he observed "the brightest morning star" he had ever seen which was the Hubble Space Telescope, reflected in sunlight, trailing behind the orbiter. HST currently is flying about 1 nautical mile above and 76 nautical miles behind Endeavour at a separation speed of approximately 4 nautical miles each orbit. The old HST solar array that Kathy Thornton jettisoned during the second space walk, is about 2200 nautical miles in front of Endeavour, moving ahead at about 45 nautical miles per orbit. HST is working fine, according to ground controllers. The crew had just a few chores to do on the planned day off. The astronauts recorded some IMAX large format camera views of the Earth, repressurized the crew cabin back to 14.7 pounds-per-square-inch, performed a supply and waste water dump, and conducted additional space suit evaluations. Claude Nicollier tucked the Endeavour's robot arm away in the payload bay after a very active workout during the mission. Mission Control also faxed up some "Sunday comics" for entertainment, although the crew spent most of their free time doing what astronauts love best, observing the Earth from their unique vantage point in space. The crew will go to sleep around 9 a.m. and wake up shortly before 5 p.m. to begin their 11th and last scheduled day in space. About three hours later, Covey and Pilot Ken Bowersox will turn on Endeavour's back-up and flight control systems, running checks for Monday's return to Earth. Around 9:42 p.m., Covey will also practice his landing techniques using the Portable Inflight Landing Operations Trainer, called PILOT. A crew news conference is scheduled for just after midnight Sunday, followed by a congratulatory call for Nicollier from the Swiss Minister of Internal Affairs Ruth Dreifuss. A news conference with European journalists will follow. Weather so far looks favorable for Monday's 1:08 a.m. landing at KSC. The deorbit burn is scheduled for 11:58 p.m. Sunday. All Endeavour systems continue to perform well as the orbiter circles every 96 minutes, approximately 320 nautical miles above Earth.
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