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Space Shuttle
Flight Details 6
STS-52 (Columbia)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The primary purpose of this mission was to deploy the LAGEOS 2, off of which scientists on Earth will bounce laser beams to measure minute movements in the Earth's crust. This is part of continuing experiments and studies related to earthquakes. The astronauts also conducted materials processing experiments using American and Canadian microgravity payloads in the shuttle mid-deck. Canadian astronaut Maclean also conducted tests of a new vision system to be attached to the Canadian-built remote manipulator arm. Columbia lander at Kennedy Space Center.
STS-53 (Discovery)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: In addition to deploying the classified DOD-1 payload, the all-military crew conducted experiments with a cryogenic heat flow payload and another package to calibrate radars for tracking orbital debris. The crew also conducted tests related to the effects of weightlessness on humans and a variety of ground observation techniques for military purposes. This was Discovery's first flight after completion of a major overhaul. She landed at Edwards AFB because of poor weather at Kennedy Space Center.
STS-54 (Endeavour)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The primary objective of the flight was to deploy the sixth TDRS data relay satellite. The TDRS system allows the space shuttle to communicate with the Johnson Spaceflight Center in Houston without the use of ground stations and also serves as the main communications link for unmanned scientific satellites, like the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gamma Ray Observatory. During the flight, astronauts Runco and Harbaugh conducted a spacewalk to practice construction techniques for future space station assembly. Endeavour landed at Kennedy Space Center.
STS-56 (Discovery)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: Discovery flew on a Mission to Planet Earth, concentrating efforts on environmental research. Early in the mission, SPARTAN was deployed with the manipulator arm to study the solar corona. SPARTAN was retrieved at the end of the flight. In the meantime, the Discovery crew used the ATLAS payload to study changes in Earth's environment, particularly measuring changes in the ozone layer. Despite some mechanical clitches, the majority of the science objectives were achieved. Discovery landed at Kennedy Space Center.
STS-55 (Columbia)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The much-delayed German Spacelab mission got underway after two launch aborts, the first for a stuck fuel valve and the second for a computer glitch. Working in two 12-hour shifts, the astronauts conducted a variety of life science, microgravity, and technology research experiments. One interesting highlight of the mission was the successful use of a 2 1/2 foot robot arm, which was controlled from Earth, to stack cubes and grasp floating balls inside the shuttle mid-deck. The experimental arm was equipped with tactile sensors, laser distance measuring equipment, and stereo cameras. Future versions of the robot arm will be used in the international space station. Columbia landed at Edwards AFB.
STS-57 (Endeavour)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The main objectives of this mission were to retrieve the Eureca experiment platform that was placed in orbit by Atlantis during STS-49 and to conduct experiments aboard Spacehab 1, the world's first commercial space laboratory. A major experiment was the transfer of liquid helium, in a test of possible future spacecraft refueling techniques. During a 6-hour space walk, astronauts Low and Wisoff first stowed Eureca's solar panels, then practiced techniques that will be needed during the planned repair of the Hubble Space Telescope on a later shuttle flight. Endeavour landed at Kennedy Space Center.
STS-51 (Discovery)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: After five launch delays because of various system glitches, Discovery was finally launched on a mission to deploy the ACTS and the German SPAS/ORFEUS. The ACTS was designed to test new advanced technology for future communications satellites, while SPAS/ORFEUS conducted studies of material that lies between the planets. Astronauts Newman and Walz conducted a 7-hour space walk to further test procedures to be used during the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. On the last day of the flight, SPAS/ORFEUS was retrieved and placed in the payload bay for return to Earth. Discovery made the first ever night landing at Kennedy Space Center to end a successful, if often delayed mission.
STS-58 (Columbia)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: During the longest space shuttle mission to date, the crew conducted a wide variety of life science experiments in the SLS 2 module located in Columbia's payload bay. The experiments included physiological studies of the effects of weightlessness, including lower body pressure and skeletal muscle performance. Experiments were also conducted on laboratory mice carried in the SLS module. Columbia landed at Edwards AFB.
STS-61 (Endeavour)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: In perhaps the most ambitious mission to date in the space shuttle program, the astronaut crew made a record five space walks, totaling 35 hours 28 minutes, to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The EVA teams of Musgrave/Hoffman and Akers/Thornton made 7-hour space walks on alternate days to (1) replace two gyroscopes, (2) replace the solar arrays, (3) replace the wide-field/planetary camera and magnetometers, (4) install corrective lenses for the main mirror and a coprocessor in the onboard computer, and (5) connect various electrical components and deploy the new solar panels. Astronauts Nicollier (ESA) and Bowersox shared the responsibility for operating the remote manipulator arm. Endeavour made a night landing at Kennedy Space Center after successfully returning the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit.
STS-60 (Discovery)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: This mission represented a historic conclusion of the cold war days, with the inclusion of a Russian cosmonaut, Krikalev, in the shuttle crew. The primary mission was to conduct microgravity and material processing experiments in the commercial Spacehab module. The Wake Shield Facility (WSF 1), a dish-shaped structure to be deployed behind the shuttle to create a super-vacuum where pure crystals could be grown for use on future super-fast computers, was not deployed because of various mechanical problems. Although crystals were grown, they were not of the quality that could have been grown if WSF had been deployed. The crew did deploy the small BREMSAT and ODERACS payloads. Discovery landed at Kennedy Space Center.
STS-62 (Columbia)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: This second dedicated U.S. microgravity mission missed, by about 1 hour, setting a new space shuttle endurance record. The existing record, of 14 days 13 minutes, was set during Columbia's STS-58 mission with the Space Life Sciences 2 mission in October 1993. This this flight, the shuttle crew performed a wide variety of material processing, robotics, crystal growth, medical research, and optical studies in the shuttle's microgravity environment. They also tested a new dexterous end effector for the robot manupulator arm. Another experiment, called SKIRT, studied the glow created by the shuttle as it passes through oxygen atoms in low-Earth orbit. This glow can affect the success of optical experiments conducted in low-Earth orbit. Columbia landed, after a very successful and relatively trouble-free mission, at the Kennedy Space Center.
STS-59 (Endeavour)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The main objective of this shuttle flight, a part of the Mission to Planet Earth, was to map the Earth using a variety of radar mapping instruments that made up the Space Radar Laboratory. These included SIR-C (Space Imaging Radar), like the one used by Magellan to map the planet Venus, and the German/Italian X-SAR (X-band Synthethic Aperture Radar). These instruments imaged more than 25 million square miles of the Earth's surface for such items as soil moisture patterns, the volume and type of mountain snow packs, types of rock masses, and imaging of areas with continuous vegation or cloud cover. Endeavour landed at Edwards AFB because of poor weather at Kennedy Space Center.
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