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| DISCOVERY'S CREW TO MAKE FIRST STATION VISIT |
The Shuttle Discovery's international crew of seven will become the first visitors to a new star in orbit on mission STS-96, preparing the International Space Station for the arrival of its early living quarters and laying out a welcome mat for the first station crew. Discovery will spend six days linked to the new outpost as the crew transfers and installs gear that could not be launched aboard the Zarya and Unity modules due to weight limitations. The Shuttle will carry more than 3,600 pounds of supplies to be stored aboard the station, ranging from food and clothes for the first crew to laptop computers, a printer and cameras.  Discovery's crew, led by U.S. Navy Commander Kent Rominger, 42, reflects the global nature of the station with three of five international partners represented. Included are cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, 46, a colonel in the Russian Air Force, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette, 35, who will become the first Canadian to board the station. U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Husband, 41, will serve as pilot, and a spacewalk will be performed by astronauts Tammy Jernigan,40, and Dr. Daniel Barry, 42. Jernigan and Barry will attach a United States-built spacewalkers' "crane" and parts of a Russian-built crane to the exterior for use on future missions. Astronaut Ellen Ochoa rounds out the crew as flight engineer and operator of the Shuttle's mechanical arm. Discovery's mission will set the stage for the launch this fall of the Russian-provided Service Module, the first station living quarters, and the arrival in early 2000 of the first three-person station crew. STS-96 is the first of two Shuttle missions scheduled to visit the International Space Station this year to continue its assembly, an unprecedented task that turns Earth orbit into an ever-changing construction site, joining more than 100 elements on 45 assembly flights.  The International Space Station will allow humankind to harness as never before one of the fundamental forces of nature – gravity – to perform research that may result in new medicines, materials and industries on Earth. The station's scientific studies, performed in six state-of-the-art laboratories, may even lead to a new understanding of the fundamental laws of nature while they pave the way for the future human exploration of space. Partners in the United States-led station include Canada, 11 member nations of the European Space Agency, Japan and Russia. Italy and Brazil also are contributing.  Much of the gear destined for the station will be housed inside a double Spacehab module in Discovery's payload bay. The spacewalking gear and cranes will be stored outside in the Shuttle bay on a new piece of equipment called the Integrated Cargo Carrier, a removable platform that will be used on many future station assembly flights. The carrier, which will remain in the Shuttle bay throughout STS-96, also includes a large, new spacewalking equipment storage box developed by Spacehab. In addition to its primary cargo of station supplies, Discovery will carry aloft a small satellite called Starshine that will provide educational observations for students around the world. More than 1,000 schools across America and the world have helped construct the satellite and will participate in the project, calculating its orbit as they learn about math and physics. Although only slightly larger than a basketball, Starshine is covered by almost 900 highly polished mirrors that will make it visible from the ground. It will be released from Discovery after the Shuttle has left the station. Discovery also will conduct several evaluations of equipment for future use on the station and the Shuttle. Two new Shuttle sensor systems will be tested. One system, called the Shuttle Vibration Forces experiment, will record vibrations between the Shuttle and its cargo to assist in planning future flights. Another test, called the Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring System, will send information on several of Discovery's systems to the Kennedy Space Center, FL, during flight and may shorten the time needed to prepare Shuttles for launch. Another evaluation will check equipment that may be used on future flights to transfer water and fluids from the Shuttle to the station. Another study, called the Volatile Removal Assembly, will test the operation of equipment that will be used to help recycle station wastewater. Already easily visible from Earth, the International Space Station will grow brighter as Discovery docks and continue to increase in magnitude as its assembly in orbit progresses during the next five years. Components built at factories around the world are now being readied for upcoming launches at the Kennedy Space Center and at the Russian launch site, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan. |
