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Mission update Vol. 35, No. 5 March 15, 1996 Spaceport News America's gateway to the universe. Leading the world in preparing and launching missions to planet Earth and beyond. John F. Kennedy Space Center Mission: STS-75 on Columbia. KSC to be recognized as Quality award finalist Landing date, time: March 9, 8:58 a.m. at Kennedy Space Although Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. Center was not selected as a winner of the 1996 Presidential Mission synopsis: Columbia landed on orbit 252 after traveling Award for Quality, the center 6.5 million miles in orbit on mission will be recognized at the 9th STS-75. This was the 29th KSC annual Office of Personnel Man- landing in the history of the Shuttle agement (OPM) national confer- program. The mission, at 15 days, ence on federal quality in Wash- 17 hours and 40 minutes, was the ington, D.C. on June 5th. As third longest in the Shuttle members of the “Winners program. Circle,” ten finalists, including Ken Szalai, director of the Dryden KSC, will be recognized by the Flight Research Center and chairman of the panel investigating OPM and will be presented an the loss of the Tethered Satellite, award by Vice President Al said members of that committee Gore. will be meeting at KSC over the The evaluation report pro- next several weeks to study the vided by OPM stated that KSC tether which returned in CREW MEMBERS for STS-76, posing during Terminal Countdown Test Demonstration is strong in all seven categories Columbia's payload bay. (TCDT) activities at Launch Pad 39B, are, from the left, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin considered in the application. and Shannon Lucid, Commander Kevin Chilton, Mission Specialists Michael "Rich" Clifford and Ronald Sega and Pilot Richard Searfoss. The report stated that KSC em- ployees exhibit tremendous pride in their work, that man- agement shows a high concern STS-76 to propel Lucid for employee safety and well being, that KSC is to be con- to long-term stay on Mir gratulated for its ongoing com- mitment to quality and that fur- ther success in the establish- Veteran space traveler Shan- Deshays from ment of a comprehensive qual- non Lucid is about to become a the French ity management system should member of four different flight Space Agency. lead to future gains and further crews in a brief four-and-a-half In August, consideration. Mission: STS-76 on Atlantis. month period. Lucid will The Army Research, Develop- Already assigned as a mis- transfer back to ment and Engineering Center, Launch date, time: March 21, sion specialist on the upcoming Atlantis when 3:35 a.m. from Launch Pad Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, was flight of Atlantis on Mission fellow astro- 39B. nominated for the Presidential STS-76, she will transfer to the LUCID naut John Bla- Award for Quality. The U.S. Russian Mir Space Station dur- Mission synopsis: The third ha arrives to Army C41 Logistics and Readi- ing the nine-day flight and tag docking between the U.S. take her place on Mir. She will ness Center, Fort Monmouth, up with the Mir 21 crew already Space Shuttle Atlantis and the then become a member of the NJ, was selected as a winner of Russian Space Station Mir will on board. STS-79 crew for the trip back the Quality Improvement Pro- be highlighted by several Mir 21 Commander Yuri home. totype award. KSC won that activities: a crew transfer, an Onufrienko and Flight Engineer It’s unlikely that this turn- award in 1995. extravehicular activity (EVA), Yuri Usachev and Lucid will over in crew members or any- logistics operations and A report from site visitors work together aboard the sta- thing else she might encounter scientific research. who helped make the final se- tion until July, when the Mir 22 on Mir will faze Lucid, whom lection stated that KSC contin- crew takes over. Joining Lucid STS-76 Mission Commander ues to be a prototype in the man- at that time will be Mir 22 Com- Kevin Chilton believes was born agement of quality and perfor- Landing date, time: March 30, mander Gennady Manakov, to fly in space. “She’s just a natu- mance improvement. It was sug- 8:05 a.m. at Kennedy Space Flight Engineer Pavel Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. Vinogradov and Claudie Andre- (See STS-76, Page 8) (See QUALITY, Page 7) Page 2 SPACEPORT NEWS March 15, 1996 Hands-on badge checks reduce KSC security risk Most employees approaching threat, he said. The hands-on a Kennedy Space Center secu- checks currently in effect are rity gate have experienced at primarily an effort to get driv- one time or another that mo- ers to slow down and give the mentary panic that although officers a good look at the access they made it to work, maybe badge. their badge did not. With all the different badges And, to top it off, on that par- that authorize entrance to the ticular day the security officers center, it is important to periodi- inevitably aren’t just looking for cally check and make sure a flash through the windshield proper identification is being — they want to touch the badge used, Burch said. itself. The recent checks have al- Hands-on badge checks have ready uncovered an employee been occurring more frequently who has not had a picture badge in recent weeks and security of- for several weeks as well as SUE BOSCH, an EG&G security officer, conducts a hand-on badge check for an ficials say that once employees employees who were using employee entering Kennedy Space Center. understand the importance of badges for other facilities to gain such close-range checks they are access to KSC. plinary action. and to be prepared to show their generally cooperative in sup- Badges can also be replicated, The need for enhanced secu- badge when they enter the porting them. Burch said. rity at federal facilities was un- gate,” Burch said. Requirements for hands-on Official badges contain a ho- derscored after the Oklahoma If traffic backup at a particu- checks have been in place for logram which cannot be easily City Federal Building bombing lar gate is ever a problem, offic- about a decade, said Cal Burch, reproduced. last year when President ers are authorized to stop the chief of the Protective Services Use of a falsified badge or one Clinton issued an executive or- checks until the logjam is Office. that belongs to another em- der emphasizing the need for cleared, he said. The checks are emphasized at ployee is a violation of federal protective measures. The checks will continue on different times depending on law and KSC security proce- “The bottom line is we would a periodic basis for the indefi- any local or national security dures and could result in disci- ask employees to be cooperative, nite future, he said. KSC awards contract Employees of the month for lighter insulation NASA’s Kennedy Space Center awarded a $1.8 million contract to Albany Interna- tional Research Company on Feb. 13 to manufacture lighter insulation materials needed to increase the orbiter’s capability. The contract calls for 6,560 square feet of a thinner Felt Reusable Surface Insula- tion (FRSI). Installing the lighter FRSI will increase the Shuttle’s payload capacity for future space station-related missions. The FRSI is made of a felt material that is coated with a silicon rubber. It protects the orbiter from the extreme temperatures experienced during launch and re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. NASA decided to modify the orbiter’s thermal protection system (TPS) in March 1994 following a thorough study. TPS data gathered from more than 70 Shuttle flights gave strong support to their decision. HONORED IN MARCH are, from the left, Larry Jones, Shuttle Operations Directorate; Michael Cardinale, The Space Shuttle Discovery is currently Biomedical Operations Directorate; Chris Beidel, Administration Office; Margaret Gibb, Payload Operations Directorate; Dennis Peterson, Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate; Linda Ranow, Procurement Office; being modified in Palmdale, CA. The rest Billy Wilson, Installation Operations Directorate; Ralonda Farrant, Engineering Development Directorate; and of the fleet will undergo similar modifica- Steve Huff, Logistics Directorate. Not pictured is Cheryl Ford, Comptroller's Office. tions. March 15, 1996 SPACEPORT NEWS Page 3 Quick repair returns Atlantis to pad SEATED FROM THE LEFT, KSC Deputy Director Gene Thomas, NASA Associate Deputy Administrator Michael Mott, and Andrew Cummins, vice president of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., of Allentown, PA, approve a one-year cooperative agreement to jointly develop a prototype of a two-phase flow meter. NASA, industry combine to develop innovative KSC-designed flow meter By Joel Wells the space agency and the com- mercial market. An innovative, KSC-designed “This meter was conceived at flow meter that could improve the space center to provide a production in the cryogenic fu- more accurate means to mea- els, petroleum and food process- sure the flow of two-phase cryo- ing industries will be developed genic fluids as they are loaded for commercial use through the aboard the Space Shuttle before first cooperative venture of its launch,” said KSC lead project kind. engineer Rudy Werlink. NASA and Air Products and “Existing sensors do not have Chemicals, Inc., of Allentown, the rapid response and sensitiv- PA, signed a one-year coopera- ity required to correlate the data THE SPACE Shuttle tive agreement March 7 to of a flowing mixture. The fact Atlantis' trip to jointly develop a prototype of the that this flow meter will have Launch Pad 39B two-phase flow meter.