UPDATE #15 - March 6, l998

PART 1: The perks of being at NASA
PART 2: Calendar of upcoming events
PART 3: It's safe to stop by my office again
PART 4: Tying up loose ends for the BIG DAY
PART 5: Subscribing & unsubscribing: how to do it!

THE PERKS OF BEING AT NASA

Today was a most unusual day, because of the way the schedule took 
on a personality of its own. I was able to experience the perks of 
working here on base at NASA even apart from the NeurOn adventure. 
I arrived at the Science Payloads office to interview BJ Navarro, 
a really fascinating, down to earth lady who is the Neurolab Stowage
Manager (Keep an eye out for this bio, so you can see why she's so 
hard to catch.)

BJ and I have been playing phone tag for some time now, and she has 
been back and forth to Kennedy Space Center several time since first 
we tried to schedule a time to put together information for her 
online bio. When I arrived I overheard her encouraging some of her
colleagues to go to the "astronaut presentation." It turns out that
she was willing to miss this special event because we'd had so much
trouble getting together, and she was anxious to "connect" with the
NeurOn participants! My gratitude and admiration for her grew as we
decided we could walk and do our talking on the way to and from the
seminar (and, of course, as a bonus I got to watch the presentation.)

And what a super presentation it was! Entitled "STS-86: Experiences
Aboard the Russian Space Station Mir," given by Astronaut Scott
Parazynski. It included slides and a video in which Scott narrated
the adventure of performing a space walk with one of the cosmonauts
on MIR. I think the part that I found most exciting was when, holding
a camera, Scott floated through some of the passageways of MIR
twisting his body to fit through narrow tunnels and to avoid cables.
If you'd like to take a look at it, you can watch it too at:
    http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/special/parazynski.html

Back to Neurolab - I think you will begin to detect, as I have, a lot
of "almost there" and "90% complete" comments in journals as we get
closer to the launch. There are sighs of relief, grins of anticipation
(Does one ever tire of the rush of watching a launch?) and just the
touch of anxiety as the BIG day approaches. Word from Kennedy Space
Center this week is that: "On Monday, 3/2/98, the Neurolab transfer
tunnel was mechanically and electrically mated. The tunnel interface
verification test was completed on Friday (today). The STS-90 crew has
participated in the crew equipment and interface test (CEIT) and a
sharp edge inspection of the orbiter's crew module and Neurolab."  In
a little over 2 weeks, Columbia (with Neurolab inside) is schedule to
be moved to the pad on Merritt Island, Florida!

Meanwhile, be sure to mark your calendars to join us for two events
described below during Brain Awareness Week. Yesterday marked the 
beginning of the Career Segments on WITN (our video component).  Be
sure to check your PBS station for the air time of this special show
featuring Aerospace Technologist Karina Shook.

That's NeurOn for now,
Linda

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS

Brain Awareness Week:

->Wednesday, March 18 at 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Pacific Time:
NeurOn's salute to Brain Awareness Week, Learning Technologies Channel
(LTC) brings Neuroscientist Eric Chudler into your classroom to
lead your students in live projects. An opportunity to give feedback
and ask questions will be provided. In order to get the full advantage
of Audio/Video feed and Chat participation, see:
	http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/events/baw
and be sure you have completed the items listed under "Things to do
before you join us." The registration is already very high, but if the
chat room fills up, classrooms can still join us in the activities and
then observe the chat afterwards.

->Thursday, March 19 at 1 0:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Pacific Time:
Join us to chat with Karina Shook, Aerospace Technologist. This chat is
a follow-up on the WITN: Aerospace Engineer Career Segment which was 
released to PBS stations on March 5th. Karina works with a group
training the astronauts for their spacewalks. Please read Karina's
biography at:    http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/team/shook.html
prior to joining this chat. For information on how to view or
purchase these WITN videos see our web page at:    
	http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/video

IT'S SAFE TO STOP BY MY OFFICE AGAIN

Tracy Gill
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/team/gill.html

February 17, l998
It's been one month since my last status message, when the experiment
test team and I had last powered up Neurolab experiments. No worries
though; the rust hadn't set in yet.

The long awaited Spacelab/Orbiter IVT finally got underway on Monday
afternoon with the Spacelab installed within Columbia's payload bay
at Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) #3. Experiment activities,
originally scheduled for 7:00 AM on Tuesday, got started around
10:30 AM due to various delays (minor Spacelab problems, tornado
warning evacuation, etc) in the around-the-clock test schedule. For
a change, we finished within about 15 minutes of my prediction of 9
planned hours of activities (I can't take all the credit - I had help
on this prediction from the Psychic Friends' Network).

We powered up all four microcomputers and the Rack Controller and
verified they were receiving timing signals from the orbiter's master
timing unit (MTU). We performed a maintenance procedure on a
spectrometer analyzer and some gas bottles to verify they were still
ready for flight. We performed a maintenance run on the two
refrigerator/freezer (R/F) units and in parallel verified 5 signals
to orbiter multiplexer/demultiplexer (MDM) interfaces for each unit.
I am actually still awaiting the results of the data calculated from
breakout box voltages to compare them to the MDM data, to be 100%
certain this is complete. But from my cursory examination of the MDM
data, the values look realistic in comparison to previous R/F data.
When this looks OK, I will buy off the two open steps I left to verify
this interface.

We powered up both Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF) racks to
verify our T-0 interfaces through the orbiter and a temperature MDM
signal for each rack. We will use these interfaces for our pre-launch
monitoring of the units during launch countdown. We verified
commanding for high power, low power, and very low power modes for
both racks. We also powered up the biotelemetry system to test our
software load procedure for it, which we will be using during launch
countdown.

Finally, we powered up the Vestibular Function Experiment Unit (VFEU)
and verified MDM commanding and talkbacks for the data recorder (DR)
as well as the four pieces of T-0 telemetry for the fish packages,
through the orbiter interface. An interim problem report (IPR) was
taken during the MDM commanding to the DR but it was a data bus
configuration problem in no way related to the experiment hardware or
software. The Spacelab console team helped us work through this in the
Launch Control Center (LCC), and they are addressing the closure,
which I believe is going to be an explained condition, due to the test
configuration. The data interface unit (DIU) and DR also performed
flawlessly (a first during Neurolab testing!), and we will now be able
to close the two VFEU problem reports (PRs) we left open after Level
III/II processing.

We took quite a few deviations from our planned procedures but not
as many as I feared. And as a matter of fact, all our deviations are
turned in at this point due to the work of our efficient
representative in the firing room during the test (me!). We had the
test team spread between three buildings for this test: some were in
the orbiter at OPF #3; some in the user room of the O&C building
looking at telemetry; and I was at the LCC working with the Spacelab
team and monitoring the software we will be using in pre-launch
activities. Most importantly, we took no new experiment PRs in the
course of the day's activities.

Remaining experiment test activities are now limited to MVAK
activities at the pad, starting with the L-10 day MVAK. MVAK stands
for Module Vertical Access Kit. This is the system we use for late
loading of experiment subjects and hardware into the Spacelab module
while it is in a vertical orientation inside the orbiter on the launch
pad. MVAK activities typically conclude around 30 hours before launch,
so it is very critical to understand all the activities in detail and
plan and practice them before the actual implementation.

Now that most of our testing activities to prepare for launch are
behind us, it's safe for people to stop by my office again. The
completion of this test has taken a big load off my shoulders. Shew!

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS FOR THE BIG DAY

Chris Barreras
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/team/barreras.html
 
March 5, l998
Hello again
I hope everything is going well with you...

I am sorry for  not getting you notes sooner but we are getting closer
to the BIG DAY and we are busy preparing for our final shipments and
closing out last minute paperwork.

The RAHFs passed their intermediate water servicing in late February
and they will be filled with water for the last time at 10 days before
Launch. We have found no bacteria problems in the water so we feel 
everything is good here. As I stated earlier, during the mission we
plan on monitoring the water capacity in the RAHFs and we plan for
refills during the flight. By the time we fly, the water will be
better than what we get out of our faucets at home.

Right now as I write the Spacelab will be closed out tonight 3/5 in
the orbiter. Once closed, we will not visit the spacelab until stowage
ops at L-10 [10 days before launch] days. As some of you may know, the
Crew finished the Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT) for the orbiter
and the spacelab. We have been busy the past few days closing out or
correcting the findings they had.

The plan is to roll out Columbia to the PAD on 3/16/98.

I am presently closing out paperwork on the Animal Enclosure Modules
which fly in the shuttle middeck. Known as small payloads.

We are still performing final problem report close outs, otherwise
known as Non-Conformance Reports (NCRs). Prior to any launch we
want to make sure these reports are either closed or addressed so
we are not flying any unknown problems or unaddressed problems.

The Rodent cages are ready for shipment to KSC and subsequent flight.
The Rodent waste trays are ready for shipment and we will install
these at KSC. Final cage Operations will begin in early April at KSC.

Rodent load into the cages for flight is at L-40 hrs where actual
cage load into the Spacelab is at L-35 hrs.

Again, let me say that we have a strong team here at Ames in support
of this project. This is probably the most exciting project I have
been involved with.

That's all for now, I have to finish off my paper work items.

This will be my last Journal entry for awhile. I leave for KSC on 4/5
and return on 4/17 assuming we have no problems. Upon my return I will
be here at ARC supporting the flight from our control room ready to
assist in any inflight malfunctions.

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