KSC-99pp0332

In the Vertical Processing Facility, STS-93 Pilot Jeffrey S. Ashby and Commander Eileen M. Collins look at a hinge used on the solar panels of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Members of the STS-93 crew are at KSC for payload familiarization. Also participating are Mission Specialists Catherine G. Coleman and Michel Tognini of France, representing the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Collins is the first woman to serve as a shuttle mission commander. She was the first woman pilot of a Space Shuttle, on mission STS-63, and also served as pilot on mission STS-84. The fifth member of the crew is Mission Specialist Steven A. Hawley. Chandra is scheduled for launch July 9 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, on mission STS-93 . Formerly called the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, Chandra comprises three major elements: the spacecraft, the science instrument module (SIM), and the world's most powerful X-ray telescope. Chandra will allow scientists from around the world to see previously invisible black holes and high-temperature gas clouds, giving the observatory the potential to rewrite the books on the structure and evolution of our universe