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Product Name: STS-90 Day 11 Highlights

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To the sounds of "Fight On, State", Columbia's astronauts were awakened at 5:09 a.m. Central time this morning to begin their eleventh day of neurological research work in the Spacelab science module. The wake up music, which is the fight song for Penn State University Nittany Lions, was played in honor of Payload Specialist Jim Pawelczyk, who earned a masters degree in physiology from Penn State in 1985. Before resuming science activities, Columbia's astronauts will conduct a news conference from orbit, answering questions from reporters in the U.S. and Canada. The Crew News Conference will begin at 9:09 a.m. Central time and will be broadcast on NASA Television. After a relatively light day of scientific activity on board Columbia yesterday, the science crew -- Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Dave Williams and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey and Pawelczyk will resume a full day of investigations today into how the human nervous system adapts to the weightlessness of space. Williams and Linnehan will conduct dexterity experiments with young rats, designed to investigate how the young rats develop in microgravity. This includes animals launched into space that have never walked on Earth and those that have walked on Earth for a short period of time prior to launch. Buckey, Pawelczyk and Mission Specialist Kay Hire once again will take part in an experiment aimed at exploring the influence of gravity on blood pressure. The lower body negative pressure test places a stress on the cardiovascular system similar to that experienced when standing in Earth's gravity. Pawelczyk also is scheduled to take part in the Valsalva test, which stimulates the pressure receptors in the neck and chest and measures those responses. Both Buckey and Pawelzyk will participate as subjects and as operators in tests of the autonomic nervous system. All four science crew members will conduct tests of their pulmonary systems as well as additional runs in a rotating chair to measure the response of their eyes and inner ears in maintaining balance in a weightless environment. This afternoon, Commander Rick Searfoss and Pilot Scott Altman will fire Columbia's reaction control system jets in a small orbital adjustment maneuver to maintain the proper landing opportunities for the end of the flight about a week from now. At 4:19 this afternoon, Pawelczyk will take a few minutes out of his research work to take part in a question and answer session with students at Penn State. Columbia remains in a 153 x 133 nautical mile orbit, circling the Earth every 90 minutes. All systems on board continue to operate in excellent fashion. The next STS-90 status report will be issued about 6 p.m. Monday or as events warrant. On Monday, April 27, 1998, 5:45 p.m. CDT, STS-90 MCC Status Report # 22 reports: Today was another busy day of science on board Columbia as the crew members conducted investigations into vestibular, pulmonary and autonomic functions. In studies which used crew members Rick Linnehan, Dave Williams and Kay Hire, and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey and Jim Pawelczyk as operators and subjects, the crew members' eye movements were tracked in a study of how the brain adapts to microgravity, and whether altered breathing patterns influence how well the astronauts sleep. In the afternoon, Buckey conducted dexterity experiments with 19- to 25-day old rats, monitoring the young rats as they walked on a specially-designed apparatus resembling a jungle gym. This was the second of three planned behavioral sessions to try to understand if gravity is essential for normal development of the motor system. Members of Neurolab's Mammalian Development Team have re-prioritized their science activities following an unexpectedly high mortality rate among the rat neonates. Mission managers reported today that 45 young rats died, likely as the result of maternal neglect. Forty-five of the original complement of 96 neonates remain, with six having been euthanised as part of scientific protocols during the course of the mission. Columbia's astronauts investigated the animal enclosures after noticing a drop in water consumption by nursing rat dams. Payload Commander Rick Linnehan and his crew mates intervened, providing fluid and nourishment to some of the young rats by hand, in an effort to save them. Crew members talked about the progress of their mission to date with reporters in the U.S. and Canada during their traditional in-flight crew news conference this morning. Pawelczyk took time this afternoon to discuss Neurolab science with students at Penn State University, his alma mater. This afternoon, Commander Rick Searfoss and Pilot Scott Altman fired Columbia's reaction control system jets in a small orbital adjustment maneuver to support landing opportunities for the end of the flight about a week from now. The astronauts will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 8:59 p.m. central time today. Columbia remains in a 153 x 133 nautical mile orbit, circling the Earth every 90 minutes. All systems on board continue to operate in excellent fashion. The next STS-90 status report will be issued about 6 a.m. Tuesday or as events warrant.