May 2 1983
From The Space Library
Engineers at GSFC sent commands to fire 6 of the 24 small control thrusters on the TDRS that was launched from Challenger in April into a faulty orbit. Scheduled to last one hour, the firing ended after 411/2 minutes, when one thruster overheated. Engineers said that they could prevent overheating in future maneuvers. The firings would continue daily for two to three weeks. (NY Times, May 3/83, C5; W Post, May 3/83, A-11)
May 4: MSFC reported successful simulation of Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) spacecraft-repair procedures in its huge neutral-buoyancy tank as rehearsal for the actual task set for 1984 during the 13th shuttle mission.
Solar Max, launched February 14, 1980, worked for 10 months until fuses blew on three of its four attitude-control momentum wheels. The repair mission would replace its 500-pound attitude-control subsystem and part of the coronagraph-polarimeter. Three of its seven instruments continued to work despite the malfunction.
Dr. George Nelson, lead astronaut for the repair, and STS-13 pilot Francis Scobee wore space suits during the underwater simulation to experience the physical difficulty of working in the space environment. Dr. Nelson and Dr. James D. van Hoften would make the actual repairs.
Dr. Ernie Hildner, coinvestigator on the polarimeter and MSFC's solar physics branch chief, said that watching the simulation made him "more optimistic about the success of the endeavor." (MSFC Release 83-30)
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