Pilots of Shuttle ‘Land’ With Laptop

The shuttle Columbia’s pilots practiced landings Saturday, using a laptop computer that displayed the approach to the space center runway.

Commander John Casper and pilot Andrew Allen took turns maneuvering a hand controller similar to the shuttle’s real one, even though it will be nearly another week before they bring the shuttle down.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration wants to see if the landing simulator helps pilots maintain their flying skills in orbit. It was introduced in October.

“It’s a good procedural review,” Casper said.

Casper and Allen plan to practice more landings before attempting the real thing Friday.

A study of spacecraft glow--one of Columbia’s primary ground-controlled experiments--encountered more trouble Saturday.

An ultraviolet-light detector malfunctioned and Mission Control had the crew zoom in on the instrument with a camera on the end of Columbia’s robot arm. Researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., suspect something might be partially blocking the light path.

On Friday, the same researchers commanded a container on the shuttle to open and release nitrogen gas, but nothing emerged. The problem was traced to a ground computer and corrected.

Scientists want to better understand the orange glow that surrounds spacecraft zooming through gas molecules. The glow can obscure telescope observations.