Aalice.460
net.space
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ihnss!cbosg!harpo!npois!alice!sjb
Fri Mar 26 23:44:35 1982
Shuttle News
Columbia's radio system continued to suffer today, worse
than before.  Three of the four downlink S-band transponders
are out, and one of the four uplinks is out.  The S-banders
are used for telemetry and data communications, such as
ground to shuttle computer communucations.  As long as the
uplinks are working, Columbia's computers can receive their
orbit and descent information.  NASA officials will meet
tonight and throughout the weekend to discuss options, but
they remained hopeful that they will see a full mission,
possibly extended a couple days on account of a storm system
over White Sands.  If the landing on Monday -- scheduled for
1427 EST -- is made impossible because of windy conditions,
the shuttle will have enough fuel and other consumable items
to last it one or two more days in orbit.