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To: Boplicity who wrote (56692)	12/25/1999 11:02:00 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

Mine are both fashion plates...22 and 12( going on 18...is a bit angry with me for not letting her get a tattoo)....now its CD's..makeup...clothes.....Hmmmmmmm....

To: Boplicity who wrote (56692)	12/25/1999 11:16:00 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 152472

Batteries.,..?...your not alone.... S P A C E C E N T E R, Houston, Dec. 25 ? Having performed the necessary repairs and upgrades to the Hubble Space Telescope, the crew of space shuttle Discovery now must return it to the heavens ? restoring a window for astronomers who gaze at the cosmos through its unparalleled eye. With a new brain and better aim, the $3 billion telescope is to be freed back into orbit today. It will begin surveying the universe again in two weeks. The astronauts began the day with a holiday wake-up call: a recording of Bing Crosby?s ?I?ll be Home for Christmas.? ?A Merry Christmas morning, Discovery. Time to return Hubble to the heavens,? Mission Control said. ?Hubble will be home for Christmas because today we?re going to set her free,? replied commander Curtis Brown Jr. Spacewalk Was Successful Astronauts Steven Smith and John Grunsfeld completed work on Hubble on Friday, installing a new radio transmitter, digital recorder and sun shades. Their spacewalk was the last of three outings to the observatory during this mission, and NASA?s last chance to fix the telescope until 2001. Before ending their eight-hour spacewalk, the pair sent back holiday greetings and a wish for peace on Earth. ?Merry Christmas!? Smith said, waving. Smith and Grunsfeld also replaced the Hubble?s failed gyroscopes during the mission?s first spacewalk on Wednesday, and added voltage regulators to its six batteries to prevent overheating. On Thursday, Claude Nicollier and Michael Foale installed a faster and smarter set of computers and a fine-guidance system, used to train Hubble?s eye on distant celestial objects. ?What a Christmas for Hubble!? said telescope program manager John Campbell. ?Six gyros, new ones, not normally found under the tree. A new computer. Better batteries. Everybody needs batteries on Christmas.? If everything works as planned, Hubble will begin sending images back to Earth around Jan. 9. Dozens of alignments, adjustments and checks need to be made before it can regain its sight. Despite the serious business going on more than 370 miles up, Christmas was in the air inside Mission Control, where stockings and Santa caps decorated computer consoles. Shortly after sunset, NASA interrupted its TV programming to broadcast the landing of Santa?s sleigh. The videotaped spoof had flight controllers giving the final ?go? for Santa?s touchdown in Houston. Series of Breakdowns The telescope shut down in mid-November after a series of breakdowns, including the failure of a fourth gyroscope needed to steady and aim it. On Friday, Smith and Grunsfeld hooked up an electronic unit to the pointing system, then replaced Hubble?s broken radio transmitter. The instrument stopped working last year, leaving scientists to rely on a backup transmitter to relay data. NASA never expected the transmitters to break, so the connectors were not made to be handled with the astronauts? bulky gloves. Engineers redesigned the replacement unit and devised a special tool to remove and install the small connectors. But it was still tiring work for Grunsfeld, who had to rest his hands. Hubble?s old reel-to-reel recorder was meant to be replaced, and it popped out easily Friday. The new solid state recorder has no reels, no tapes and no moving parts, and can hold 10 times as much data. Besides the new electronics, the men hung thin stainless steel sheets at the base of the 9-year-old telescope to prevent solar damage. During the last service call in 1997, astronauts reported Hubble?s thermal insulation was cracked and peeling on the side facing the sun. There wasn?t time to get all six shades up, but the two worst areas were covered. Despite the unfinished work, NASA declared the mission a full success. Discovery is due back Monday. Shuttle managers believe the craft?s computers are Y2K-compliant, but they want it down on Earth well before New Year?s Day just in case there are problems.