Shuttle Crew Packs for Landing
Space shuttle Challenger’s international crew of eight finished up scientific experiments and began packing Tuesday for its scheduled landing this morning in California.
Mission commander Henry W. Hartsfield and pilot Steven R. Nagel, assisted by astronaut James F. Buchli, will guide the stubby-winged shuttle to a landing at 9:44 a.m. today on a desert runway at Edwards Air Force Base.
West German scientists Reinhard Furrer and Ernst Messerschmid, Dutch physicist Wubbo Ockels and American scientists Bonnie J. Dunbar and Guion S. Bluford worked rapidly Tuesday to complete the 76 experiments inside the 23-foot-long Spacelab module in the shuttle’s cargo bay.
Messerschmid and Bluford, the “red team” in the two-shift, around-the-clock operation of Spacelab, will close out the final experiment just eight hours before landing. The “blue team” of Furrer, Dunbar and Ockels will awaken from their last sleep in space just in time to help complete the stowage of gear.
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