MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-63 Status Report #10


Tuesday, February 7, 1995, 8 a.m. CST

Following a historic rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir yesterday,    
Discovery's crew will spend another day of precision flying today, releasing a small  
satellite that will study the material from which stars and planets are born.

Mission Specialist and Russian Cosmonaut Vladimir Titov released the Spartan 204  
satellite and its Far Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph instrument from the shuttle's  
mechanical arm on time today at 6:26 a.m. central.  As Commander Jim Wetherbee  
backed Discovery away, Titov confirmed that Spartan was in good health by reporting  
the satellite has performed its first solo maneuvers.

Spartan will spend about two days flying free of Discovery before it is retrieved by the  
shuttle.  Using the far ultraviolet instrument, Spartan will study the interstellar medium,  
the gas and dust that fills space between stars and planets.  Spartan's observations will  
be recorded aboard the satellite for analysis by scientists after Discovery's return to  
Earth.

At about 9:22 a.m. today, Titov, Pilot Eileen Collins and Mike Foale will be nterviewed  
by ABC News' Good Morning America and by CBS News.  Other activities remaining  
today for the crew include continued monitoring of the 20 experiments in the Spacehab  
module and several ongoing medical studies.

Discovery is now more than 100 nautical miles from the Mir station and continually   
separating in an orbit with a high point of 114 nautical miles and a low point of 207  
nautical miles.

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