Shuttle Astronauts Take Mock Space Walk
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HOUSTON — Two of the shuttle Discovery astronauts, preparing for the first manned U.S. space mission since the Challenger explosion, took a mock space walk Wednesday to manually aim a satellite for launch.
The exercise, part of a 56-hour simulated mission, was proclaimed a success by flight director Milt Heflin.
“The team’s ready to go,” Heflin said. “We’d like to do it tomorrow, yesterday if we could.”
The Discovery and its five-member crew is expected to lift off for a four-day mission in late September. The astronauts will launch the $100-million Tracking and Data Relay Satellite and conduct other scientific experiments.
During Wednesday’s walk in a swimming pool near a shuttle mock-up at the Johnson Space Center, astronauts George D. Nelson and John M. Lounge fixed a tilt table that is used to aim and launch the satellite from the shuttle cargo bay. The pool is used to simulate weightlessness.
The high-tech drill, which ends today, marked a final chance for the astronauts and flight controllers to practice in such detail, National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials said.
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