Shuttle Crew Tends to Science Tasks, May Repair Door
Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia spent Thursday getting pricked by needles and poked by their fellow medical researchers in a marathon effort to learn more about how people might survive long voyages through space.
The crew, which includes three medical doctors and two scientists among the seven members, carried out several experiments and tended to their flock of 29 white rats and nearly 2,500 tiny jellyfish during their long day 184 miles above the Earth.
There was only one significant problem with the shuttle in the second day of the nine-day mission, and flight controllers emphasized that even that posed no serious threat to the flight. During Wednesday’s launch, several insulation blankets in the shuttle’s cargo bay pulled lose from a bulkhead and a couple of strips of insulation were left hanging from the side of the bay.
“This is not a safety related issue,” Randy Stone, chief flight director at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, told reporters. However, the strips of insulation caused enough concern among flight engineers that there is some consideration being given to sending two astronauts out on a spacewalk to either push the strips back into place or cut them off.
The Teflon strips are supposed to form a seal between one of the shuttle’s two 60-foot-long cargo doors and a rear bulkhead. Stone said he is reasonably sure the doors could be closed for reentry even if the strips are left where they are, but further analysis was under way.
The doors covering the unpressurized cargo bay must close securely for the shuttle to land safely at Edwards Air Force Base. The landing is now set for June 14, and if flight directors decide it is necessary they will send Tamara E. Jernigan, 32, and James P. Bagian, 39, out to take care of the problem sometime next week. That, however, was considered highly unlikely.
No results have been reported yet from the 18 experiments being carried out by the crew, and most of the findings will not be released until after considerable analysis following completion of the mission.
The 29 rats aboard Columbia seemed to be enjoying the flight, according to astronaut Margaret Rhea Seddon, 43, perhaps because they do not know they will be killed after the mission so that researchers can determine precisely how weightlessness affected their bodies.
“The rats looked happy,” reported Seddon, a medical doctor. “One was smiling at us.”
The Columbia is commanded by Bryan D. O’Connor, 44. Other members of the crew are Sidney M. Gutierrez, 39, the pilot; Dr. Francis A. (Drew) Gaffney, 44, and Millie Hughes-Fulford, 46, a chemist.
