Jul 8 1992
From The Space Library
Weather conditions forced postponement of the Space Shuttle Columbia's return, lengthening what is already NASA's longest Shuttle mission into a full two weeks. (P Inq, Jul 9/92; LA Times, Jul 9/92; W Post, Jul 9/92; NY Times, Jul 9/92; W Times, Jul 9/92; The Sun, Jul 9/92)
Russian cosmonauts Alexander S. Viktorenko and Alexander Kalery worked outside the Mir Space Station on an unscheduled two-hour spacewalk to activate a pair of gyroscopes that help stabilize the Space Station. The gyroscopes had worn out naturally during the course of Mir's life and had to be replaced. (AP Jul 8/92)
A spokesman announced that NASA had failed in its latest attempt to fix the jammed main antenna on the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft, but the Agency said it would try different repair methods next year. Engineers turned Galileo's main antenna toward the Sun to warm it, then cooled it in shade, but the antenna remained stuck. The latest warming and cooling of the antenna was the seventh and final effort to open the antenna by thermally expanding or shrinking what NASA engineers think are stuck pins on three of the antenna's ribs. Despite the loss of the main antenna, NASA scientists expected to complete 70 percent of Galileo's mission by using a small antenna. The small antenna, however, is capable of transmitting only one percent as many computer "bits" as the main antenna would have sent. (AP, Jul 8/92)
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