STS-49 Mission Control Status 1

                    MISSION CONTROL CENTER
                       STATUS REPORT #1

STS-49, Friday May 8, 1992, 12 a.m. CDT

Endeavour and the INTELSAT-IV communications satellite, with
all systems working well on both spacecraft, have begun
closing in on one another in preparation for a spacewalking
repair planned to begin Sunday afternoon.

Endeavour lifted off at 6:40 p.m. CDT Thursday and made a
trouble-free climb to orbit to begin shuttle mission STS-49.
A normal engine firing to circularize Endeavour's orbit
ensued, putting the spacecraft into the planned 182 by 140
nautical mile orbit.

INTELSAT flight controllers in Washington D.C. ordered the
stranded satellite to fire its thrusters for a maneuver at
10:44 p.m. that successfully dropped the low point of
the 300 nautical mile orbit INTELSAT has occupied for almost
two years by about 110 nautical miles.  The communications
satellite is now in an approximately 300 by 190 nautical mile
high elliptical orbit.  Two more thruster firings are planned
by INTELSAT controllers as they continue to drop within reach
of Endeavour and circularize the lower orbit.

Endeavour fired its orbital maneuvering system engines
briefly at 11:52 p.m. to begin its preparations for an
encounter with INTELSAT, raising the shuttle's orbit to 182
by 147 nautical miles with the 13-second long burn.

The crew is scheduled to go to sleep for their first night in
space at 2:10 a.m. CDT today and awaken at 10:10 a.m. CDT to
begin their second day. Their second day's activities aboard
Endeavour will center on equipment checks of the spacesuits
and the shuttle's mechanical arm.