STS-49 Mission Control Status Report #3



                         MISSION CONTROL CENTER
                            Status Report #3

STS-49, May 8, 1992, 6 p.m. CDT Friday

Flight day 2 has proven busy for Endeavour's crew as it prepares
for Sunday's rendezvous, retrieve, repair and reboost of the Intelsat
VI satellite stranded in a useless orbit two years ago.

The final orbit lowering burn of the satellite occurred on time at
about 1:35 CDT this afternoon.  The burn put the satellite in an orbit
196 x 191 nautical mile orbit on track to reaching its imaginary
rendezvous control box.  One final burn is scheduled for about 3:30
tomorrow morning to refine and circularize the satellite's orbit at
about 197 nm.

While Intelsat headquarters in Washington, D.C., maneuvered its
spacecraft, flight controllers in Houston's Mission Control Center and
the crew aboard Endeavour continued maneuvering of the orbiter to
close the distance between the two spacecraft.  The orbiter performed a
14 feet per second burn to raise the high point of its orbit to 189
from 183 nm.  The current orbit is 189 x 148 nm.  Endeavour's next burn
will slightly lower the low side of the orbit by about one nautical
mile.  That burn is scheduled for midnight.

The crew depressurized the cabin atmosphere to 10.2 pounds per square
inch from 14.7 psi in preparation for the spacewalks on Sunday,
Monday and Tuesday.  The crew also began unstowing equipment that will
be used for the spacewalks including the four spacesuits tucked in the
airlock.  Complete checkout of the suits to make sure they are in
proper working order will take place later this evening.

Endeavour's robot arm was put through a complete checkout to make sure
it is working properly.  The arm plays a significant role in all three
planned spacewalks as it will be used to transport astronauts and
payload equipment in and out of the payload bay.

Other activities today including removing a buildup of lint on a mesh
filter screen on one of the tactical air navigation units in the
avionics bay that experienced the higher than normal fan speed.  After
clearing the lint, the fan speed appeared to slow down.

Prior to start of the sleep period tonight, Commander Dan Brandenstein
will become the astronaut with the most time in space aboard the Space
Shuttle.  Norm Thagard holds the current Shuttle record with 604 hours
45 minutes 6 seconds.  Brandenstein began the mission with 575:49:18.

A special visit to the Mission Control Center by His Excellency Leonid
Kravchuk, President of the Ukraine, occurred early this morning.  He
spoke briefly with Brandenstein wishing the crew luck on the mission
and a safe return home.