Vol. 35, No. 9

Spaceport NewsJohn F. Kennedy Space Center

America's gateway to the universe. Leading the world in preparing and launching missions to planet Earth and beyond.

May 10, 1996Thanks

for buyingU.S. Savings

Bonds!

1996 Savings BondKSC drive results

Organization Percent of participation

CD/DY/AC 90%

AC 74%

CC 100%

CM 88%

DE 66%

EO 100%

HM 76%

IM 72%

LO 59%

MD 84%

MK 61%

MS 80%

OP 66%

PA 100%

RQ 51%

TM 69%

Two KSC employees named astronaut candidates

HIGGINBOTHAMCALDEIRO

Two NASA/Kennedy SpaceCenter employees have beennamed astronaut candidates,making a total of three candi-dates chosen from KSC in thelast 16 months.

Fernando ‘Frank’ Caldeiro, alead engineer in the systemsassurance office, and JoanHigginbotham, a lead orbiterproject engineer, received thenews April 29 in phone callsfrom the astronaut office atNASA’s Johnson Space Centerin Houston.

“It is gratifying to see employ-ees who work so diligently andsuccessfully toward the process-

ing and launch of the Shuttlefleet here at KSC be given theopportunity to fly,” said KSCCenter Director Jay Honeycutt.

Caldeiro said the fact thathe so thoroughly enjoys his workat KSC probably contributed tohis selection. And the fact that

be inflated and later jettisonedafter operations; and the Tech-nology Experiments for Advanc-ing Missions in Space (TEAMS),a set of four space technologyexperiments.

Planned as part of the Spar-tan 207/IAE and TEAMS inves-tigations are a total of four ren-dezvous operations with two re-search satellites — the most

ever during a single SpaceShuttle flight.

On Flight Day Two,Endeavour’s Remote Manipula-tor System (RMS) arm will re-lease the Spartan 207 carrierwith its attached IAE. The an-tenna, which is housed in a can-ister about the size of a largekitchen table, will then take less

Centerwide total 70%

May has traditionally beenobserved as Asian and PacificIslander American HeritageMonth. The theme of thisyear's observance is "AsianPacific Americans -- One Vi-sion, One Mission, One Voice."

Among KSC activitiesplanned for the month is a lun-cheon May 23 at 11:30 a.m. inthe O&C Mission BriefingRoom. Former CongressmanNorman Mineta is scheduledto speak.

Asian, Pacific Islandermonth honored at KSC

STS-77 to developcommercial edge

THE STS-77 astronauts, posing during the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test,are, from the left, Mission Specialist Mario Runco Jr.; Pilot Curtis Brown Jr.; MissionSpecialist Marc Garneau (representing the Canadian Space Agency); CommanderJohn Casper; and Mission Specialists Andrew Thomas and Daniel Bursch.

(See STS-77, Page 8)

Developing the commercialpotential of space will be the fo-cus of Mission STS-77, thefourth Space Shuttle flight of1996.

At press time, the 77thShuttle mission and 11th flightof Endeavour was scheduled tobegin with a May 16 liftoff fromPad 39B during a two-and-a-half-hour launch window whichopens at 6:32 a.m. EDT. Thedate may change to no earlierthan May 19 because of rangescheduling. The planned 10-dayflight is targeted for a landingat KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facil-ity on May 26 at 7:09 a.m. EDT.

The six-member crew willoversee the operation of thethree primary payloads — theSPACEHAB-4, a commerciallyowned and operated laboratorymodule with 12 experiments,mostly in commercial spaceproduct development; the Spar-tan 207/Inflatable Antenna Ex-periment (IAE), a free-flying car-rier with an antenna that will

he has always been interestedin flight. His first job after re-ceiving a mechanical engineer-ing degree from the Universityof Arizona was with RockwellInternational as a test engineerfor the B-1B bomber inPalmdale, CA. Shortly after-ward he was promoted to test di-rector. After the 100th bomberwas delivered in 1988, he trans-ferred to KSC as a systems spe-cialist with Shuttle main pro-pulsion systems. In 1991 he washired by NASA and began work-ing in the KSC systems assur-ance office.(See ASTRONAUTS, Page 8)

Page 2 SPACEPORT NEWS May 10, 1996

1995 Kennedy Space Center Annual Honor Awards

John T. Conway Robert B. Sieck Tom Breakfield

This award is granted by the president to careermembers of the Senior Executive Service (SES)whose performance has been exceptional for atleast three years. The award recognizes sustainedextraordinary or superior accomplishment in themanagement of programs of the United StatesGovernment and for noteworthy achievement ofquality and efficiency in the public service.

The Director’s Award is thehighest award that the centerconfers on an employee. Theaward honors the accomplishmentof a job-related task of suchmagnitude and merit as to de-serve special center recognition.

KSC SECRETARY OF THE YEAR

This award is granted to a KSCemployee serving in a secretarialposition who has demonstratedexemplary performance of officialduties over an extended period oftime, or a significant one-time accom-plishment directly related to officialduties. The nominee’s performancemust also have been characterized bya high degree of personal integrity,judgment and responsibility.

Elliot Zimmerman

The NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal isawarded for notably outstanding leadershipwhich has had a pronounced effect upon thetechnical or administrative programs of NASA.The award may be given for an act of leader-ship or for sustained contributions based on anindividual’s effectiveness as a leader, theproductivity of an individual’s program, ordemonstrated ability to develop the administra-tive or technical talents of other employees.

Distinguished Executive Rank AwardMeritorious

Executive Rank Award

1995 PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE RANK AWARD

KSC DIRECTOR’S AWARD

Kenny G. Aguilar Fran Brauer

Dr. James W. Wright

KSC EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AWARD

This award is granted to any KSCemployee or supervisor for outstand-ing contributions to Equal Opportu-nity. Examples of the types of contri-butions for which the award may begranted include: encouraging self-development and training amongminorities and women; assigningminority and women employees toorganizational tasks which broadentheir experience; suggesting affirma-tive actions which alleviate problemspeculiar to minorities and women;and, assigning minorities and womento tasks which encourage full utiliza-tion of their skills.

KSC SERVICE AWARD

In grateful recog-nition and apprecia-tion of faithfulservice in the Na-tional Aeronauticsand Space Adminis-tration and thegovernment of theUnited States ofAmerica. 40 years

Malcolm W. Fuller40 years

George H. Hughes, Jr.

Walt Stampley

Janet A. Keith

NASA OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP MEDAL

Charles B. Mars

Floyd Curington - (no photo available)

Page 3 SPACEPORT NEWS May 10, 1996

NASA GROUP ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

The NASA Group Achievement Award is given in recognitionof an outstanding accomplishment which has been madethrough the coordination of many individual efforts and hascontributed substantially to the accomplishment of the NASAmission. This award recognizes the accomplishments of eithera total Government employee group or a group comprised ofboth Government and non-Government personnel.

Apollo/Saturn V CenterFacility Activation and Modification ManagementGalileo Processing TeamHardware Interface Module Project TeamKSC Emergency Preparedness Coordination TeamKSC Facility Asbestos SurveyNASA-KSC Midrange Procurement Implementation Team1996 President’s Quality Award Application TeamRussian Docking Module Payload Support TeamSafety and Mission Assurance Support Contractor Tran

sition TeamSpace Station Processing Communication Systems Work-

ing GroupSTS-34 Orbiter main Landing Gear Failure Analysis TeamSTS-69 Multi-Payload Processing Facility First Use Team

KSC CERTIFICATES OF COMMENDATION

This award recognizes exceptional individual accomplish-ment or outstanding direction or management of a programor program segment which affects the entire Center orcontributes significantly to the Center’s mission.

Hewitt Q. McKinney Mack McKinneyGrant W. Stoddard Richard P. SchneiderDonald Schiller Eugenio PichardoRobert Webster Kimberly JenkinsWilliam Bastedo Herbert PeeteCynthia Martin Harry WolfeRobert Franco Tracy GillGary Benton Brent SealeJohn Parks Renee MinorFrank Der Bill LarsonKaren Thompson Jim AlibertiScott Colloredo Miguel MoralesMario Busacca Carolyn McCraryDanny R. Culbertson Robert M. HowardMichael D. Hogue Seunghee LeeErnesto T. Camacho Peter P. NickolenkoMark A. Mason Joanne CobbsSharon Lowry Betty EldredMichael B. Stevens Clinton E. BartleyJack L. Gardner Kenneth L. NewtonLouis G. MacDowell, III Pauletta K. McGinnisMichael S. McCarty Rosamund L. RockLinda Hansen Ball Michael J. LonerganDavid J. Spacek Denise Y. ColemanTerry L. Smith David G. DixonPeter J. Musto Christopher J. CarlsonTimothy A. Bond Jan A. ZyskoSteven J. Altemus Matthew K. SmisorAlvaro Diaz Larry A. MurrayGeorge W. Jacobs

Roger C. Greek Richard H. Jolley, Ph.D., P.E.John B. Plowden Michael B. Renfroe

The NASA Public Service Medal is granted for exceptionalcontributions to the mission of NASA. The award may be givento any individual who was not a government employee duringthe period in which the service was performed.

NASA PUBLIC SERVICE MEDAL

KSC CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION

This award is intended to recognize significant contributionsmade by NASA employees, individual citizens, contractors, orpublic organizations to Center endeavors.

NASA Employees

Annette C. Dittmer Robert A. CunninghamKent E. Hawley Kennedy L. NewtonJohn J. Zuber Louis B. MacDowell, IIIJ. Bruant Keith, Jr. Herman T. Everett, Jr.John T. Demko Glenn S. PerezDavid W. Olsen Norman J. TokarzDarin M. Skelly Maria C. StelzerMarisa L. Hueckel Thomas A. SchehlM. Claire Neptune Cheryl C. HurstJames W. Austin Teresa M. LawhornMargaret A. Hinds David A. WansleyM. Melinda Smith Jim E. MedinaMark Woloshin Kenneth D. HydeSchonda L. Briggs Helen P. KanePing Y. Yu Deborah K. WardFrank S. Howard Robert L. Schwandt

Kristen J. Riley Karen E. CornePatricia F. Hatch Patricia E. GladneyPaul A. Mogan Denise De La PascuaKim C. Ballard Wayne R. MartinLarry L. Shultz Henry SchwarzGregory A. Hall Cynthia R. WickerJoseph E. Porta Teddy J. MostellerJames H. Celsor Robert J. KoennJohn Poppert Francis VillalpandoRon Fox Shawn M. QuinnLouise Boyd Karin BiegaJohn T. Halsema Robert K. CurrieAnne Jamison Timothy P. McKelveyTerry A. Stefanovic Carlos D. EstradaLinda K. Buckles Joseph B. VoorCheri B. Wynn Thomas Hoffman

Contractors

Mary G. Chetirkin Mark A. HahnMichael Jones Clarence D. WestRobert C. Reuter Kenneth E. HunterJohn D. Holt James R. MatrazzoJohn W. Boelke Benjamin C. GlennNancy J. Melton Brian E. BatemanGary A. Woods James N. Hillis

Wiley R. Alford Thomas J. Jamieson Elliott H. Burton Joe Regan

Mark W. Monaghan Joan D. PetersonRikki Ojeda Robert C. Youngquist

SPACEPORT NEWSPage 4

All-American picnic

OSMAN IFTIKHAR,husband of Karen Iftikhar ofthe Equal OpportunityOffice, helps kick off theopening festivities for thepicnic with a jump onto theKARS park picnic grounds.Iftikhar and three othermembers of Astra'sskydiving team fromTitusville dropped in duringthe ceremonies. Togetherthe four parachutists have atotal of 60 years experienceand 11,000 jumps, havingperformed at air showsthroughout Florida.

FROM THE LEFT,David Brady,

Johnny Wilkinsonand Dana Peacockof the Merritt Island

High SchoolQuarterback Club

helped cook someof the 800 pounds

of hamburgerconsumed during

the picnic.

ASTRONAUT Kevin Chilton, who performed in the MAX Q band, signs an autographfor Trish Zion, 5, daughter of Howard Zion of Precision Fabricating and Cleaning.

JUDGES FOR THE fifth annual KSC chili cookoff get down to bu

Kennedy Space Center’s1996 version of the All-Ameri-can picnic was so popular,organizers resorted to handingout makeshift tickets at the gate.

Tom Breakfield, organizer ofthe event, said the final estimatedattendance of 5,200 is a “conservative”number. Most past picnics have drawn about halfthat, and the picnic committee this year had set agoal of 3,000.

Breakfield said the picnic committee began getting a linervous the afternoon before the event when 4,200 tickewere reported sold. On the morning of the picnic “we hadpeople rushing out to locate more hamburger meat, hotdogs, drinks, ice and paper goods,” he said. When all wasaid and done, picnic goers consumed 800 pounds of haburger, 200 pounds of hot dogs, 1,008 cups of ice cream9,144 cans of soda and 5,000 pounds of ice.

Anyone who attended the picnic extravaganza would athe committee pulled it off beautifully. “It was a real succeBreakfield said. “The picnic was geared to real family-typactivity.”

One of the biggest successes was the restructuredchildren’s activities area which featured games designedgroups of employees, centered around KSC and space-

SPACEPORT NEWS Page 5

MEMBERS OF theMAX Q astronaut band

get picnic goers,including Nora Ross ofShuttle Operations, on

their feet with theirrousing renditions of

classic rock-n-rollfavorites.

THE NASA KENNEDY Management Association Dunking booth provided participants an opportunity tocool off during the hot afternoon.

GROUND SYSTEMS team members won over the judges astheir Roadkill chili received top prize in the chili cookoff. Fromleft are Mark Nurge of Ground Systems, Mike McCully, directorof Launch Site Operations for Lockheed Martin Space OperationsCompany and chili judge extraordinaire, Shawn Quinn of GroundSystems and Center Director and Chief Chili Honcho JayHoneycutt. At right, Payload Operations Director John Conway'sPolitician's Chili may not have received the most votes, but it

raws all-out crowd

on the task of rating KSC's finest chili concoctions.

related themes. Andthe variety of enter-tainment topped off bya floor-stompingperformance by theelusive MAX

Q astronautband. And the fifth annual chilicookoff which even attracted ajudge from that other chili-lovingstate — George Abbey, directorof the Johnson Space Center inHouston, Texas. “There wassomething for everybody,”Breakfield said.

Of course the event requiredthe coordinated efforts of hun-dreds. Breakfield said the realcredit goes to the picnic commit-tee members. He was especiallyappreciative of the support of theExchange Council Facilities Op-erations Manager for KARS BobbyGoforth, the KARS Gun Club, andthe KARS personnel who took onwhat may have been the biggest job of all — cleaning up the trash!

SPACEPORT NEWS May 10, 1996Page 6

NASA EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT MEDAL

The NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal is awarded for asignificant, specific accomplishment or contribution clearly char-acterized by a substantial and significant improvement in opera-tions, efficiency, service, financial savings, science or technologywhich contributes to the mission of NASA.

Tracy Lee Crittenden George R. HurtRichard Martucci Gary RayRichard A. Boutin Walter L. CovingtonHerbert E. McDilda Janet M. ParkerRamon Lugo, III Barbra ReitzShannon D. Bartell Steve DutczakLawrence F. Kruse Theodore Cook, Jr.

NASA EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE MEDAL

The NASA Exceptional Service Medal is awarded for signifi-cant performance characterized by unusual initiative or creativeability that clearly demonstrates substantial improvements or con-tributions in engineering, aeronautics, space flight, administra-tion, support, or space-related endeavors which contribute to themission of NASA.

Nicholas J. Talluto Ronald B. KentSam Lenck Daniel L. TweedDudley R. Cannon, Jr. Roy L. RussellRita Willcoxon Gale J. AllenRussell Romanella G. Wyckliffe Hoffler, M.D.Mike Kinnan Andrew L. HaugevikRoelof L. Schuiling Joel R. ReynoldsLesa Roe Bruce R. BakerWayne Prince Edward J. MangoCharlie Quincy Perry L. BeckerTammy Conway Barry M. Braden

RECIPIENTS of the team award for fighting Foreign Object Debris (FOD) areShuttle Landing Facility team members, from the left, Manager Robert Bryan,John Forzetting, Tamara Williams, William Lockwood, Sarah Patterson, AlvinLightsey, Donald Linton, Kenneth Hooks and Ronald Feile, all from EG&G Florida,Inc. Not pictured are Terry Mann and Larry Parker of EG&G and Ed Taff ofNASA.

PARTICIPANTS in Kennedy Space Center's Spring 1996 Intercenter Run make theirway down the Shuttle Landing Facility runway April 17. Weather was nearly perfect andlogistically the race went off without a hitch, reports Mary Kirkland, coordinator of theevent. A total of 242 runners and walkers took part 2 mile, 5 kilometer and 10 kilometerevents. Winners included: Two-mile, men: Ermin Dion Ramiscal, 14:40; Raymond E.Johnson, 15:15; Dominic Lapinta, 15:17. Women, Donna Boone, 14:49; Carmel Shearer,15:50, Rebecca Smith, 16:44. 5K, men: Rick Simon, 20:12; Jimmy Juel, 20:37; DavidDemianovich, 21:06. Women, Leslie Hughes, 23:32; Andi Bernhard, 24:32; Nancy Zeitlin,24:40. 10K, men: Tim O'Brien, 37:55; Chip Galliano, 39:13; Frank Kapr, 39:56. Women,Michelle Lackore, 43:36; Cheryl Mackowiak, 52:10.

KARS offers discount attraction ticketsKARS is offering discounted

tickets that can be used at Wet‘N Wild water park on Saturday,May 25. The special price is $13(the regular rate is $25.39) andincludes: free soft drinks fromnoon to 8 p.m.; free 18-holeCongo Golf from noon to 5 p.m.;regular hot dogs for 75 cents atthe main snack bar; $1 tuberentals after 6 p.m. ($2.50 before6 p.m.); and $1.00 parking witha parking coupon. Admission is

good anytime after 10 a.m.KARS/KSC will have exclusiveuse of the park from 6 to 10 p.m.The rain check policy will be ineffect for those entering the parkafter 4 p.m. Tickets will be onsale at all NASA Exchange re-tail stores from May 17-24.

A special rate has also beenarranged with Universal Stu-dios for the month of September.Ticket prices will be $23 foradults and $18 for children.

KSC CENTER DIRECTOR Jay Honeycutt leads a panel of NASA center directorsduring the closing segment of the 33rd Space Congress on April 26 at the HowardJohnson Plaza-Hotel in Cocoa Beach. The leaders spoke on "A Perspective ofthe Future from NASA Center Directors." From the left are Mark Craig, deputydirector at Stennis Space Center; Dr. Wayne Littles, director at Marshall SpaceFlight Center; Honeycutt, George Abbey, director of Johnson Space Center; andJohn Young, associate director (technical) of Johnson Space Center.

SPACEPORT NEWS Page 7May 10, 1996

Silver Snoopy awards

Several Silver Snoopy awardshave also been presented toNASA and contractor employeesduring the past month.

On April 2, members of theSTS-75 crew presented awardsto NASA employees Jim Thomp-son, Troy Turbyville and LarryMauk and contractor employeesKim Osgood, EG&G; Titus Free-man, Sherikon Space SystemsInc.; and Richard Risley andPaul Hudson, LMSO.

Astronaut Pam Melroy pre-sented awards April 4 to JohnLorch, NASA; Bob Wilson andPete Hopman, LMSO; and EdGillenwater, Ron Feile, BillCaffee and Mike Mann, EG&G.

Astronaut Jim Halsell pre-sented awards to EG&G em-ployees Richard Hardy and JeffPeterson April 10 and civil ser-vant John Dollberg on April 16.

On April 25, Astronauts MikeGernhardt and Mike Andersonpresented awards to CherylHurst, NASA;, Brain Lawson,MDS&DS; Edward Simmons,Rockwell; and Bruce Rutledge,USBI.

K e n n e d ySpace Center(KSC) hon-ored 49 of itscivil serviceand contrac-tor employ-ees at a spe-

cial HonoreeEvent held March 19-22 at thespace center.

The KSC employees wereamong some 250 NASA and in-dustry employees from aroundthe country who were honoredby top NASA and industry lead-ers for their significant contri-butions to the nation’s space pro-gram.

The KSC employees attendeda special reception in theirhonor, and were joined by astro-nauts and senior NASA and in-dustry officials of the SpaceShuttle team.

They were given a VIP tourof Kennedy Space Center andparticipated in various brief-ings.

They also watched the STS-76 launch of the Space ShuttleAtlantis on March 22 from aspecial VIP viewing site.

KSC employees commended at STS-76 Honoree EventThe Honoree Award is the

highest form of recognition be-stowed upon an employee by theNASA Space Flight AwarenessProgram.

Recipients are selected fortheir professional dedicationand outstanding achievement insupport of the human space-flight program.

Twelve civil service employ-ees were honored. They wereKent Hawley, David Cox, TriciaKoger, Sharon Pine, BethVrioni, Robert Koning, MarkRosato, Teresa Lawhorn,Michael Lonergan, TimothyBond, James Devault and Tho-mas Howard.

Contractor employees hon-ored included William Cook, TheBionetics Corp.; James Meeks,I-NET Inc.; Roger Greek Jr.,Mark Juhr, Margie Myers,andWilliam McCullough, Mc-Donnell Douglas Space and De-fense Systems-KSC; KellyGeroux, Rockwell Aerospace,Rocketdyne; and Paul Hamric,Wiltech Corp.

Also, Frederick Martin,Catherine Parnell and KennethSaltz, Rockwell Aerospace,

Space Systems Division;Stephanie Grathwol, ABEXNWL Aerospace; John Jahahn,Odetics; Gary Henderson,Pamela Storm and Steven VanHorn, United Technologies,USBI Co.; and RosalindBarbaree, Richard Bennett,Cecil Boggs Jr., DoloresGalbreath and Mary Ann Jack-son, EG&G Florida Inc.; andEvelyn Ott and Gordon RogersSr., United Service AssociatesInc.

Lockheed Martin Space Op-erations employees honoredwere Peter Aiello, FrederickCryder, Stephen Dupree, Ben-jamin Enriquez, Peter Kent,Dennis Knight, Debra Lamond,Roger Lee, Paul Lucas, LouisMarrero, Henry May, RobertParsons, Judith Russell andChristopher Sally.

STS-76 honorees and theirspouses/guests visited theJohnson Space Center in Hous-ton May 1st and 2nd as part ofthe Space Flight Awareness ac-tivities. There they toured facili-ties including Mission Controland space station and Shuttlemockups.

Smithsonian, life scientists study CO2 effects at KSC site

year has been spent preparingthe 4-acre site, located a halfmile north of KSC’s LaunchComplex-39. The site contains16 open-top chambers thathouse the Florida scrub vegeta-tion being studied.

The 12-foot by 12-foot cham-bers been carefully placed overa new growth of scrub that isspringing back after a plannedburn of the area. Twice the nor-mal amount of CO2 will be blowninto half of the chambers,

DR. BERT DRAKE, the Smithsonian’s principal investigator on the study of CO2 levelsin a KSC scrub oak community, issues a command to turn on the blowers dispersingambient air and increased CO2 into open-top chambers. Dr. Ross Hinkle, biologicalprograms manager for Dynamac, awaits the start of the experiment.

through an electrically poweredduct system. Underground cam-eras will monitor root growthand researchers will watch thegrowth and physiology of theplants over the next two years.

The experiment should helpdetermine if an increase in CO2

will help vegetation grow in nu-trient poor areas, said Dr. BertDrake, the Smithsonian’s prin-cipal investigator on thisproject.

“The study may also showthat some vegetation types aremore amenable to extra CO2 andthat those will flourish and de-velop a competitive advantageover others,” said Dr. RossHinkle, biological programsmanager for Dynamac, KSC’slife science contractor. NASA’sBiological Programs organiza-tion views the project as an op-portunity to share data and ex-pertise.

Researchers from theSmithsonian Institution hopetheir experiment in a local scruboak community at the KennedySpace Center (KSC) will helpthem determine the effects ofincreased carbon dioxide (CO2)on natural vegetation.

Experts forecast a doubling ofthe CO2 in the Earth’s atmo-sphere during the next century.The research team plans tosimulate that increase to findout how natural ecosystems andvegetation will respond.

The Smithsonian, NASA, andthe Department of Energy(DOE) are cooperating to findanswers to these questions. TheSmithsonian will lead the inves-tigation with on-site assistancefrom KSC’s life science organi-zation. The Department of En-ergy provided $1.3 million forthe three-year project througha grant to the Smithsonian. One

John F. Kennedy Space Center

Spaceport News The Spaceport News is an official publication of the Kennedy SpaceCenter and is published on alternate Fridays by the Public Affairs Officein the interest of KSC civil service and contractor employees. Contributions are welcome and should be submitted two weeks be-fore publication to the Media Services Branch, PA-MSB. E-mail submis-sions can be sent to Barbara.Compton-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov

Managing editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lisa MaloneEditor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Barb ComptonEditorial support provided by Sherikon Space Systems Inc. writers group.

USGPO: 733-096/20021

SPACEPORT NEWS May 10, 1996Page 8

STS-77. . .(Continued from Page 1)

than six minutes to inflate toabout the size of a tennis court.Fully inflated by nitrogen gas,the lens-shaped antenna willhave a diameter of 48 feet (14.6meters) and include three 92-foot-long (28-meter-long) struts.The orbiter will be about 400feet (122 meters) away as thecrew photographs the inflation.The IAE will be jettisoned aftera 90-minute test of the deploy-ment (i.e., inflation) and perfor-mance of a large inflatable an-tenna on orbit. The RMS roboticarm will then be used to retrievethe Spartan carrier the follow-ing day.

Inflatable components likethe antenna could significantlyreduce the cost, while increas-ing the reliability, of deployablestructures in space such as so-lar arrays.

The three other rendezvousoperations scheduled during themission are with a small satel-lite used in one of the fourTEAMS experiments called thePassive Aerodynamically-Stabi-lized Magnetically-Damped Sat-ellite (PAMS). The investigationis designed to demonstrate theprinciple of using the thin atmo-sphere remaining at low alti-tude to position a satellite in aspecific orientation. In addition,magnetized rods will be used tohelp align the satellite with themagnetic field of Earth.Endeavour is expected to ren-dezvous with the approximately

2-foot-long (0.6-meter-long) sat-ellite on the day of deployment,Flight Day 4, as well as onFlight Days 7 and 8.

Aerodynamic stabilizationcould result in the design of sat-ellites which are more reliableand cost-effective, and less com-plicated.

The highest-priority experi-ment of the flight is the Com-mercial Float Zone Furnace togrow high-quality crystals ofsemiconductor materials forelectronic devices, infrared de-tectors, faster computers andimproved optical electronic de-vices. The SPACEHAB-4 inves-tigation is being performed incooperation with the CanadianSpace Agency and the GermanSpace Agency (DARA).

The crew also will conductand oversee a variety of second-ary experiments in the fields oftechnology demonstration, pro-tein crystal growth and biologi-cal processes.

More than 90 percent of thepayloads on the mission aresponsored by NASA’s Office ofSpace Access and Technologythrough its Commercial SpaceCenters and their industrial af-filiates.

Crew members are MissionCommander John H. Casper;Pilot Curtis L. Brown Jr; Mis-sion Specialist Andrew S.W.Thomas, serving as payloadcommander; Mission SpecialistsDaniel W. Bursch and MarioRunco Jr.; and Mission Special-ist Marc Garneau from the Ca-nadian Space Agency.

Charles “Chuck” Henschel,known by many at KennedySpace Center for his good natureand grace under pressure, diedat his home in Titusville on May2.

Henschel worked at KSC for30 years before retiring in 1994.He joined NASA in 1964 as a testconductor and was a lead testsupervisor for the first Saturn Vlaunch from Complex 39. Heworked as a launch vehicle testconductor for the Apollo pro-gram, test supervisor for theSaturn V program, NASA testsupervisor for the Shuttle pro-gram and as a technical assis-tant for the Vehicle ProcessingDivision.

Angelo Taiani, a NASA/KSCretiree who worked as a techni-cal support supervisor whileHenschel served as Apollo testsupervisor, rememberedHenschel’s careful commandwhile on console.

“He never had any irritatingwords to say,” Taiani said. “Somepeople on console were much dif-ferent than he was.”

Dick Young, who worked as apublic information officer at thattime, said Henschel was “verysmart” and “very affable.”

“When he’d issue status re-ports he’d put it in English forus dummies,” Young said.

Henschel took on a wide range

of responsibilityas he movedinto the Shuttleprogram, fromhelping formerLaunch Direc-tor NormCarlson coordi-nate the tradi-

tional post-launch beans to serv-ing as a back-up in the firingroom during launch to prepar-ing the Launch Complex 39 areafor the center’s annual openhouse.

“He always had a lot ofprojects going,” said TedMosteller, an astronaut supportoffice employee who trained un-der Henschel in the Vehicle Pro-cessing Division from late 1993until Henschel’s 1994 retire-ment. Those projects extendedto his church and into the com-munity, he said. “After he re-tired he said he didn’t know howhe had found time to work,”Mosteller said. RecentlyHenschel worked as a volunteerfor the Public Affairs Office andserved as a consultant for theApollo Saturn V center andshows currently under construc-tion.

Henschel is survived by hiswife, two sons, his mother anda sister. Flags at KSC wereflown at half-mast May 6 in hismemory.

Astronauts. . .(Continued from Page 1)

Chuck Henschel remembered by Apollo co-workers

HENSCHEL

After completing his master’sdegree at the University of Cen-tral Florida he was encouragedby Safety and Mission Assur-ance Director JoAnn Morganand co-workers to apply for theastronaut corps. In his sparetime Caldeiro and his wifeDonna enjoy traveling in thetwo-seat composite airplane hebuilt himself.

Higginbotham began work-ing for NASA in 1987 as a pay-load electrical engineer. Withinsix months she became the leadfor orbiter experiments on theSpace Shuttle Columbia.

In August, she will add amaster’s degree in space sys-

tems to her bachelor’s degree inelectrical engineering and hermaster’s in management.

Higginbotham was recentlypromoted to the lead orbiterproject engineer position for theShuttle Columbia after twoyears as an orbiter project engi-neer for the Shuttle Atlantis.

She engages in numerouspublic speaking engagements,conducts tours on behalf ofNASA and tutors at a local el-ementary school. She has re-ceived a NASA Exceptional Ser-vice Medal and the OutstandingWoman of the Year Award.

Kay Hire, formerly an engi-neer with Lockheed Space Op-erations Company, became thefirst KSC employee to be nameda candidate in December 1994.