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The crew felt that more velcro should be placed on the front of the middeck lockers, particularly on the lockers near the food prep area.  A supper meal for 6 people entailed approximately 30 food packages and it was difficult to find enough velcro to stow these items temporarily during rehydration.

The lanyards on the crew-carried scissors serve no function except to inhibit access to the scissors and should be removed.

No crewmembers used any of the spring bungees packed in the MS1 locker.  A survey of crewmembers should be made to determine if anybody is using these items and, if not, they should be deleted.

RMS
The RMS was originally manifested on 41-D solely for the contingency situation of jettisoning the solar array wing in the event it could not retract.  For a period preflight, there was discussion of off-loading the RMS, since other methods of solar array jettison were available.  Once the decision was finalized to carry it, several additional tasks were planned.  All three satellites' PKM burns were monitored with the wrist camera, which was also used to perform surveys of the thermal protection system around the OMS pods, crew cabin, and wing areas.  The availability of the RMS also enhanced solution of the water dump ice buildup.  All in all, the capabilities of the RMS and its reputation as a "camera stand," once looked upon as insufficient justification to carry it, certainly demonstrated that it ought to be manifested as standard equipment whenever mission performance allows.

Operations.  Due to possible single-point failures in the GPC, IOP, the ground decided in real-time during flight that it was prudent to keep power off of the mid-motor control assemblies when not required.  This hardware required power to deploy/stow and to release/latch the RMS, whoever, so the crew was advised to cycle these four switches as needed during RMS operations.  This process worked satisfactorily, and yellow switch guards were placed on the four switches for ease of location.

Ice Removal.  The RMS performed two tasks related to the ice buildup at the water dump ports.  The arm was positioned to use the wrist camera for inspection and was later used to bump the ice free.  Procedures for the latter task could not have been performed with such high confidence without the unique capabilities and rapid turnaround for the SES and necessary involvement of CB operators with RMS flight experience.

The ice removal violated the ground rule of keeping the arm 2 feet from Orbiter structure unless grappling a payload.  This ground rule has been waived on occasion when the operator could see the arm and critical clearances either visually or via the CCTV.  In this situation, however, the end effector clearances from both the fuselage and wing could not be monitored.  Program officials should consider this situation as an exception rather than as an example for the future, since the ground rule is still valid.  As such, it should not be planned to carry these procedures routinely.  In the even that unexpected contingencies occur which require novel uses of the RMS, CB support people should work out the procedures in the simulator and voice their concerns and tips to the flightcrew.