OCR Text |
Show The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH/NATIGN Al5S Wednesday, December22, 1999 Shuttle Nabs Hubble During 17,500 mph Gameof Tag See the Space Duo During the Next Few Days If skies are clear, Utah resi- ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SPACE CENTER, Houston — Space shuttle Discovery andits astronauts captured the broken Hubbie Space Telescope on Tuesday for a service cali 370 miles above Earth, “We have Hubble grappled,” astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy reported. Mission Control ns gratulated him on “your firstclass job.” The two-day chase culminated with an evening catch over the Gulf of Mexico. Beginning today, the astronauts will make three spacewalks over three days to get Then Clervoydeftly plucked the 43-foot, 25,000-pound telescope old-fashioned computer and data recorder, batteries that are in- arm. His next step was to anchor creasingly prone to overheating, and peeling skin. from orbit with Discovery's robot the observatory in the shuttle cargo bay. Tt is the third service call to the $8 billion Hubble. In December 1993, astronauts fitted the telescope with corrective optics be- cause of a mirror with a design flaw. The Hubblegotits last tuneup in February 1997. Besides four dead gyroscopes with corroded wires, the Hubble hasa broken radio transmitter, an Atleast some of the decline is dueto the fact that the Hubble has been orbiting Earth for almost 10 years and traveled 1.4 billion miles, more than 15 times thedistance between the Earth and the sun, Discovery's four designated spacewalkers will replace all those parts and more with im- proved units, and hang stainless steel covers on the outside of the telescope to protect it from the blistering sun. Four days of spacewalking had been planned, but one had to be canceled because of the mission's late start, the result of equipment problems and lousy weather. NASA said ail the major objec- tives can be accomplished in three walks, The shuttle is scheduled to return to Earth on Monday. NASA wants Discovery back with a few days to spare before New Year’s Eve to avoid any Y2K computer problems. dents might be able to see space shuttle Discovery and the Hubble Space Telescope flying together Jow on the southern horizon during the next few evenings. Discovery’s astronauts are on a mission to repair the orbiting telescope. The possibie views will not be good from northern Utah because the two spacecraft will be so close to the horizon, but “seeing a shuttle and the Hubblejoined is a rare enough event that we hope folks will make the effort to see them anyway,” said Patrick Wiggins, spokesman for Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City. From Salt LakeCity, the joined craft will look likea single point of light growing brighter as it moves slowly west to east low above the southern horizon. Wiggins said times to look are 7:18 to 7:24 tonight, 7:28 p.m. to 7:34 p,m Thursday, 7:38 p.m. to 7:43 p.m. Friday and 7:48 p.m. to 7:53 p.m. Saturday. The times should not vary by more than a minute else- wherein the Intermountain West, he said. The spacecraft should appear higher in the sky for viewers southofSalt Lake City, but may be too low to beseenfor people to the north, Wiggins said. the Hubble working again and to refurbishit. The Hubble has been disabled for nearly 1% months because of failed gyroscopes, which are needed to keep the telescope steady for aiming atstars, galax- ies and other celestial objects. The collapse of the pointing system left the telescope little shaky and forced some changesin Discovery's approach. But commander Curtis Brown Jr. said he and his crew had practiced for such a case and were not worried. With Brown at the controls, Discovery edged evercloserto the Hubbleas both spacecraft hurtled around the Earth at 17,500 mph. Mississippi Jury Awards $150M In Fen-Phen Trial THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. FAYETTE,Miss. — A Mississippi jury awarded $150 million in compensatory damages Tuesday to five people who claimed their health problems could be traced to the controversial diet drug cocktail known as fen-phen. month ofwireless durors reached a settlementfor undisclosed sum on punitive damageslate Tuesday, “At least now we can get the proper health care that we need. It hurts to know the company was saying we weren’t sick,” said Vinester Wi , 35, who wept andfree-activation. after the verdict was read. “It was unbelievable thatwe were treated the way we were.” Defendant American Home Products has denied wrongdoing andsaidit will appeal. The trial, which began last month in community of about 2,000, may have a major impact on a proposed national set- Sign up for one of many tlementof thousands of lawsuits over the drug combination alleged qualified annual plans from AT&T Wireless Services by suits independently, the settlementcoi canceled. Attorney Dennis Sweet, repre- senting the Mississippi residents, had accused American Home Products of putting profit over health concerns. The plaintiffs claim the drug combination left them with INTRODUCING the end ofthe year, and we'll Ericsson LX677 for: pay yourfirst monthly service charge and activation fee. pulmonary ypertension. American Home Products made a diet drug called fenfluramine, the “fen”in fen-phen.It sold the drug under the brand name Pondimin along with a chemical relative Plus, sign up now and get the Ericsson LX677 Digital multi-network phone for fenfluramine and phentermine — the “phen”in the combi- only $49.00. ‘phen to potentially fatal art valve ‘American Home agreed earlier this year to pay up to $4.83 billion in a proposed settlement that could cover all 6 million users. There are more than 11,000 fenphen suits pending against the company. SIDING Lassi! See Z| | 800-IMAGINE wwwaatt.com/wireless/ Atel PHONES BY ERICSSON SB Call for special store hours Ping Yan exe PerehoaeinsST Caen Coble sid Gtionne Wncacney ices at selected AT&T Stores. Come in to find out about detalis and special offers. ‘eBORTH OREM 024 W. State St. EF 10am-7pm Sat 1Oam-6pn HALL APS Ogden, 74376th St., Bldg. 430 - 801 779-0441 ‘STH ‘South Jordan, 1834 W. S. Jordan Prwy. - 601 253-4317 Tooele, 740 NW.Main - 4395 689-0253 ‘West Jordan, 7061 §. 1700 W. - 801- 568-8215 ‘West Valley City, 4643 S. 4000 W. - 801 982-0372 — Lee Siegel |