MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-63 Status Report #15


Thursday, February 9, 1995, 3 p.m. CST

Two of Discovery's astronauts today performed at 4 hour, 39 minute, spacewalk to test  
modifications in their spacesuits and gain experience in handling large masses in space.

Mission Specialists Bernard Harris and Mike Foale floated into Discovery's payload bay  
shortly after 6 a.m. Central to begin the shuttle program's 29th spacewalk. After arranging  
their tools in the payload bay, Harris and Foale were lifted out of the payload bay on the  
robot arm to evaluate how well new space suit undergarments would keep them warm.

For the test, Mission Specialist Vladimir Titov positioned the arm so that the two  
spacewalkers were high above and away from the relative warmth of the payload bay.  
They stayed in position for about 15 minutes, subjectively rating their comfort levels while  
sensors in their gloves collected objective data that will be compared to temperatures  
taken of the space environment around them.

For the second part of the spacewalk, Harris conducted a mass handling exercise with the  
Spartan-204 satellite to gain experience in moving large objects on orbit. While Harris was  
finishing his portion of the exercise, both astronauts reported that their hands were  
beginning to get cold. Flight controllers subsequently decided to cancel Foale's mass  
handling tasks and end the spacewalk early.

Harris and Foale re-entered Discovery's airlock and finished their spacewalk around 10:30  
a.m. Central. All the information collected during the extravehicular activity will be used  
to refine and develop spacewalk techniques and systems for future shuttle and  
International Space Station EVAs.

As the spacewalk was beginning, Mission Specialist Janice Voss was using the robot arm  
to pluck the Spartan-204 satellite from orbit and secure it in the payload bay. Spartan-204  
had been flying free of Discovery for two days, collecting information on the material in  
interstellar space.

Friday, the STS-63 crew will store all the equipment taken out during the mission in  
preparation for landing Saturday morning. Landing is scheduled for 5:51 a.m. at Kennedy  
Space Center, but the flight control team is monitoring weather conditions in Florida.
  
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