Day 14 STS-62

pilot andy allen monitors reentry on flight deck.



columbia lands @ ksc on march 18, 1994.

the flight day 14 (thursday, march 17) plan called hot firing of reaction control system (rcs) in preparation return flight, flight control system checkout, cabin stowage, ssbuv deactivation, , final run in lower body negative pressure device gemar. crew awakened 14th day of flight song living in paradise brothers cazimero.

the crew performed final checks of spacecraft, wrapped experiments , began packing bags in preparation return earth. columbia scheduled fire oms engines @ 6:18 am cst begin descent culminate touchdown on kennedy space center shuttle landing facility runway @ 8:09 am est. casper , allen test-fired columbia s 38 primary steering jets morning planned, finding them in shape trip home. later, casper , allen each spent time practicing landings using portable computer simulation designed shuttle. during time, gemar spent 4 hours in lower body negative pressure device (lbnp).

ivins powered down columbia s mechanical arm , latched in cradle trip home, , thuot completed operation of 2 protein crystal growth experiments on board, preparing them entry , landing.

several final observations of shuttle glow effect, phenomenon created atomic oxygen , other gases impact spacecraft, conducted. columbia performed series of spins investigations included more releases of nitrogen gas payload bay canisters.

the final few hours of crew s day devoted stowing gear , preparing columbia mission s end. before reentry, columbia in orbit high point of 257 kilometres (139 nmi) , low point of 194 kilometres (105 nmi).

the flight day 15 (friday, march 18) plan called deorbit preps , deorbit burn of 209 ft/s (63.7 m/s) @ met 13/22:04 planned landing @ ksc. landing occurred on runway 33 of shuttle landing facility on march 18, 1994 @ approximately 8:10 am est.