Interim Shift A report 7/22/99

Yahoooo !!!!!!!!  We have had a spectacular first 4 hours of the
mission.

The highlights have been that we started ACIS commanding within
30 minutes of the payload bay doors opening which is superb efficieny.
The good news is that the ACIS initial internal pressure was -2.4/-2.1
Torr on side A/B.  This is significantly lower than the pre-flight
prediction of 6-9 Torr.  We can only surmise that the preflight
measurements were inaccurate for reasons unknown.  We opened the small
valve within minutes of starting the procedure and observed a nominal
pressure decay.  The details are listed below.  The ACIS cold radiator
has been cycling between 0 and 10 C as we orbit, so the focal plane
has probably been above 0 C for most of the time.  We are pleased that
all ACIS commands were executed nominally and all telemetry looks
nominal.

SO, ACIS IS FINE, THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A NEGLIGIBLE AMOUNT OF WATER
CONDENSATION ON THE FOCAL PLANE !!!!!!!

HRC - Temperatures are nominal.


!!!!!!!!!!   STS-93 Launch at 12:31am	!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Minor glitch with the right engine which caused it to temporarily
throttle back, it soon went back to max thrust
- SRB separation nominal
- MET 8:30 SSME cutoff nominal
- External tank separation    
- MET 20:00 154 x 145 nau miles is current orbit
- MET 35 Captain Collins reports that CRT #3 is down as she prepares
for OMS 2
- MET 41:30 OMS 2 burn, 
- MET 43:30 OMS burn complete, good burn, no trim required
- no further burns required
- MET 55, Sunnyvale says that the IUS looks healthy
- MET 1:18:00 manuever to payload bay doors opening attitude
- MET 1:32:00 problem with TDRS handover to TDRS East, apparently GSFC
screwed up their schedule
- MET 1:34:00 start Payload bay doors opening
- MET 1:37:00 first motion of payload bay doors
- MET 1:38:20 starboard door open
- MET 1:39:15 port door open
- MET 1:44:00 start Chandra power-up
- MET 1:45:30 Chandra Bus activation
- MET 1:47:00 Bus A/B 31.84   Current 2.4/2.7 A
   EXCELLENT !!!!!!!
- MET 1:53:00 Orbiter Com activation
- MET 1:55:00 OCC Com activation script in progress
- MET 2:05:00 Chandra com activated
   Initial temp readings
   1CRAT	1CRBT	1WRAT	1WRBT
   5.1		5.1	20.3	20.3
- MET 2:07:00 Begin ACIS commanding
- MET 2:08:00 Initial Pressure readings
MET	   1HOPRAPR	1HOPRBPR	1CRAT	1CRBT
2:08	   -2.4		-2.3		7.6	7.6
2:09	   -2.1		-2.1
2:12	   -1.8		-1.8		10.2	10.2
2:22	   -1.5		-1.5
2:32	   -1.3		-1.2		12.7	12.7
2:38	   -1.0		-1.2		12.7	12.7
2:59	   -0.7		-0.9		10.2	10.2
3:12	   -0.7		-0.6		5.1	5.1
3:24	   -0.4		-0.6		0.0     0.0
3:36	   -0.4		-0.6		0.0	0.0
4:03	   -0.4		-0.4		10.2	10.2
4:29	   -0.1		-0.4		10.2	10.2
5:17	   -0.1         -0.1            -12.6   -12.6
6:04        0.2          0.2	        -30.1   -30.1
6:24        OFF          OFF            -45.0   -45.0
  

- MET 3:00:00  Bus current is 3.8 A, they expected 8 A because SIM abort
heaters are not on
- MET 4:00:00 ratty com for about 15 minutes, another scheduling prt
- OBC A and B look OK
- RF checks are OK

- MET 5:50  crew elevates Chandra to 29 degrees, they claim that they
see a significant amount of debris in the bay, Eileen claims that one
piece is roughly 1 in by 6 in !!!  Houston asks them to characerize
the debris.

- MET 7:10:00 crew elevates Chandra to 58 degrees 

- MET 7:17:00 crew deploys Chandra !!!!!!!!!!


ACIS: Ed Boughan, Ellen Sen, Peter Ford, Royce Buehler, Shanil Virani
HRC: Jon Chappel, Martin Zombeck, Adrian Roy
EPHIN/PCAD: Eric Martin
SOT Lead: Paul Plucinsky