Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 7, 1994 TAG: 9402070039
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
Ground controllers raced against the clock to try to resolve the latest satellite problem: a malfunctioning guidance system. NASA said today would be its last opportunity to deploy the Wake Shield Facility, one of the primary purposes of the shuttle mission.
The Wake Shield was supposed to fly free of the shuttle for two days so scientists could try to grow semiconductor films in the ultra-clean wake created by the saucer-shaped craft. There would be time for only one day of free flight if deployed today.
As Discovery whizzed around Earth with the Wake Shield propped on the end of the shuttle crane, Mission Control struggled to pinpoint the problem with the satellite's horizon sensor. The infrared sensor is supposed to help guide the satellite when it flies.
Alex Ignatiev, the project's chief researcher, said managers had gone out of their way to install a guidance system with a strong track record. Similar systems have flown on 50 other spacecraft without error, he said.
"There are many snakes out there. This is one we didn't expect," he said.
The crew was disappointed after two days of failure, especially astronaut Ronald Sega, who had spent years working on the Wake Shield. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian to fly on a U.S. shuttle, had trained for more than a year to retrieve the satellite with Discovery's robot arm.
Ignatiev said he still hopes to grow seven wafers of gallium arsenide on the Wake Shield.
Keywords:
INFOLINE
by CNB