 | Shuttle cutaway
Credit - NASA
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Program: STS. Objective: Manned. Type: Spaceplane. In the mid-1960's the US Air Force conducted a series of classified studies on next-generation space transportation systems to support projected large military space stations, conduct manned military reconnaissance and strike missions, and reduce the cost of launching military payloads. These Air Force studies finally concluded that a partially reusable vehicle was the most attractive, along the lines of Lockheed's Starlifter, which had a large drop tank but returned the engines and avionics of the vehicle for reuse. The Air Force probably spent around $ 1 billion on 'black' technology development tests at this time, including work on linear aerospike engines and high fineness lifting body shapes that would re-emerge again 30 years later in Lockheed's X-33 space shuttle successor.
NASA also had ambitious plans - for large space stations, lunar bases, nuclear interplanetary rocket stages, and manned Mars expeditions. NASA went through a long iterative process in designing and selecting the space shuttle, leading ultimately to the same conclusion as the Air Force. Initial Phase A concepts were for two stages, both either winged or lifting bodies, both recovered at the launch site for reuse. NASA explored some alternative concepts, including Lockheed's LS200 single orbiter with drop tank, and Chrysler's SERV ballistic single stage to orbit vehicle, before proceeding to Phase B. The Phase B designs were more refined but still used the same two-stage approach. At this point the controversy were over large cross-range winged designs, medium cross-range lifting body designs, and minimal cross-range stub-wing designs. NASA's Faget strongly pushed for the stub-wing design.
Eventually the Nixon administration advised NASA that not only were there to be no flights to Mars, no nuclear interplanetary stages, no space station, no more Saturn V's, no orbital transfer vehicle - but there wouldn't be a space shuttle either if NASA couldn't get the development cost down and get the USAF to participate. A USAF requirement was a large cross-range to allow recovery of the orbiter at Vandenberg AFB from polar orbits in the case of abort-once-around scenarios. This, together with wind tunnel studies indicating that Faget’s straight wing was unstable at re-entry speeds, drove NASA to the delta wing. The reduction in development cost led NASA to throw away the concept of reusing anything but the engines and guidance systems. Instead the shuttle would be boosted by cheap solid fuel boosters and, taking a concept from the Air Force, the propellants would be put in a big expendable drop tank.
Following the usual charade of competitive bidding, NASA picked the same contractors as for X-15 and Apollo, who would build precisely the vehicle it had in mind. North American Rockwell was selected to build the orbiter, with its Rocketdyne Division making the main engines, Thiokol for the solid rocket boosters, and Martin Marietta for the External Tank, to be built at the government Saturn IC factory at Michoud.
To finance the Shuttle in the austere 1970’s, already-built Apollo hardware that would have supported a second Skylab mission was sent to museums and American manned space flight went into a long hiatus. Budget cuts and overruns reduced the number of shuttles built from five to four and delayed the first flight from 1978 to 1981 (thereby ruining the plan to save Skylab on an early shuttle mission). Although several elements were cancelled (a space tug), the project did not much overrun its original cost (development ended up costing $ 6.744 billion in 1971 dollars, versus $ 5.15 billion estimated - less than a quarter of the Apollo program cost).
The pretext for the shuttle was that it would be much cheaper than expendable launch vehicles and would replace them all. Production was accordingly terminated by the US government of Delta, Atlas, and Titan vehicles. NASA staff and contractors were under incredible pressure to justify this decision by increasing the shuttle launch rate, lowering the turn-around time, and thereby reducing the cost per launch. When the shuttle Challenger exploded and the entire US space lift program was shut down for almost a year, the fallacy of this situation was exposed. The US Air Force and commercial users returned to use of expendable launch vehicles. When the shuttle began flying again, it was only for NASA programs.
In the final analysis the shuttle came up short in two areas. First, the shuttle orbiter ended up almost 20% over its specified weight - resulting in it being unable to boost the US Air Force’s payloads into polar orbits from Vandenberg. Lighter filament-would casing Solid Rocket Boosters were being developed for use in flights from Vandenberg, but even this did not seem enough. After the Challenger explosion the USAF was able to extricate itself from the Shuttle program. The Vandenberg launch complex, built at the cost of billions, was mothballed. The Air Force started a new costly development program to design the Titan 4 expendable rocket for its large military payloads.
The second was that it failed, by most definitions, to reduce the cost of putting payloads into orbit. The shuttle program inherited from Apollo huge fixed costs - the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, the cadres of government and contractor workers at the Kennedy Space Center, and so on. The result was that there is a fixed base cost of around $ 2.8 billion per year, just to keep all those people and facilities in place, even if you don’t conduct any flights at all (as occurred after the shuttle disaster). The marginal cost of each flight added to this base is under $ 100 million per year. Seen this way the shuttle is almost competitive expendable boosters - but doesn’t come anywhere near the reductions NASA promised when development started. But if you divide the usual number of flights per year by the total costs, you come up with a figure of $ 245 million per year, significantly more than a Titan 4 or Proton launch with the same payload.
If the shuttle failed as a space truck, it succeeded in keeping the US in the manned spaceflight business in a period of low public interest and political support. With the excuse of delivering payloads to orbit, NASA got to fly up to seven astronauts and run a host of supplementary experiments and payloads with each flight.
With construction of the international space station beginning, NASA finally looked forward to using the shuttle for its intended purpose. Due to the lower than planned flight rate, NASA’s contractors were confident they can keep the existing shuttles flying through 2030. The real test come when (as was inevitable) another shuttle was lost. NASA then decided to essentially to complete the station only enough to keep its international partners happy, then retire the shuttle by 2010. It was to be replaced by a modernized Apollo capsule, dubbed the Orion. The shuttle turned out to be a fifty-year detour to nowhere. By 2020 NASA hoped to have the sort of lunar base it would have had by 1980 if it had continued with Apollo rather than started the shuttle program.
Major Events: - 1969 April 21 - Space Shuttle Task Group formed. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
The Director of Apollo Test in the NASA Hq. Apollo Program Office, LeRoy E. Day, was detailed to head the MSF Space Shuttle Task Group. The group would provide NASA with material for a report on the Space Shuttle to the President's Space Task Group.
- 1972 July 26 - Contract awarded for shuttle OV-102.. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1974 June 4 - Structural assembly of crew module for OV-102 begun.. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1975 March 27 - Shuttle Enterprise fuselage complete.. Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1975 June 24 - Start structural assembly (MPTA-098).
- 1975 December 20 - First SSME 60-second duration test, NSTL. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
- 1976 January 16 - Crew module on dock, Palmdale, Enterprise (OV-101). Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1976 January 23 - MPTA-098 truss on dock, Downey.
- 1976 February 16 - Start fabrication forward fuselage (STA-099).
- 1976 April 2 - Crew escape system test sled on dock, Downey.
- 1976 April 22 - Body flap on dock, Palmdale, Enterprise (OV-101). Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1976 June 14 - Start aft fuselage assembly (STA-099).
- 1976 June 25 - Complete functional checkout, Enterprise (OV-101). Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1976 July 8 - MPTA-098 on dock, Downey, without truss assembly.
- 1976 July 12 - Start installation secondary structure (MPTA-098).
- 1976 August 2 - Start carrier aircraft modification.
- 1976 August 20 - Complete horizontal ground vibration tests.
- 1976 August 23 - Start Delta F modification, Enterprise (OV-101). Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1976 August 27 - Shuttle Enterprise - dummy OMS pods delivered.. Spacecraft: Enterprise.
Reaction control system/orbital maneuvering system pods (simulated), approach and landing tests, on dock, Palmdale, Enterprise
- 1976 September 10 - Complete Delta F modifications, Enterprise. Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1976 September 13 - Start preparations for first rollout, Enterprise. Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1976 September 17 - Complete on-stand construction, NSTL.
- 1976 September 20 - Start Delta F retest, Enterprise (OV-101). Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1976 October 1 - Start final assembly, wing (STA-099).
- 1976 October 15 - Midfuselage on dock, Palmdale (STA-099).
- 1976 October 29 - Complete Delta F retest, Enterprise (OV-101). Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1976 November 4 - Complete 747 shuttle carrier aircraft modification.
- 1976 November 18 - Start escape system sled test, Holloman, N.M..
- 1976 November 26 - Complete integrated checkout, Enterprise (OV-101). Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1976 November 28 - Complete orbiter transporter strongback.
- 1976 December 7 - Tail cone fairing on dock, Palmdale.
- 1976 December 13 - Start assembly upper forward fuselage, Columbia. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1976 December 17 - External tank 1/4-scale model on dock, Downey.
- 1977 January 3 - Start assembly vertical stabilizer, Columbia. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1977 January 28 - Simulated crew module on dock, Palmdale (STA-099).
- 1977 January 31 - Mass simulated SSMEs on dock, Palmdale, Enterprise. Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1977 January 31 - Enterprise (OV-101) transported to Edwards AFB. Spacecraft: Enterprise.
- 1977 February 10 - Midfuselage on dock, Palmdale, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1977 March 16 - Wings on dock, Palmdale (STA-099).
- 1977 March 21 - Orbiter 1/4-scale model on dock, Downey.
- 1977 April 1 - Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale (STA-099).
- 1977 April 6 - Vertical stabilizer on dock, Palmdale (STA-099).
- 1977 May 20 - Nose landing gear doors on dock, Palmdale(STA-099).
- 1977 May 26 - Aft payload bay doors on dock, Palmdale (STA-099).
- 1977 May 31 - SRB 1/4-scale model, burnout and maximum q config.
- 1977 May 31 - Body flap on dock, Palmdale (STA-099).
- 1977 May 31 - Body flap on dock, Palmdale (STA-099).
- 1977 June 3 - Ship MPTA-098 from Seal Beach, Calif., to NSTL.
- 1977 June 23 - Deliver first SSME to NSTL (MPTA-098).
- 1977 June 24 - Deliver MPTA-098 to NSTL.
- 1977 July 8 - Deliver second main engine to NSTL (MPTA-098).
- 1977 July 14 - Deliver third main engine to NSTL (MPTA-098).
- 1977 August 12 - Enterprise flight 4. Spacecraft: Enterprise. Launch Site: Edwards. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Conduct first free flight, ALT, tail cone on, Edwards (5 minutes, 21 seconds), Enterprise (OV-101), lake bed Runway 17
- 1977 August 26 - Deliver wings on dock, Palmdale, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1977 September 7 - Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale, Columbia. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1977 September 13 - Enterprise flight 5. Spacecraft: Enterprise. Launch Site: Edwards. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Second free flight, ALT, tail cone on, Edwards (5 minutes, 28 seconds), Enterprise (OV-101), lake bed Runway 17
- 1977 September 23 - Enterprise flight 6. Spacecraft: Enterprise. Launch Site: Edwards. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Third free flight , ALT, tail cone on, Edwards (5 minutes, 34 seconds), Enterprise (OV-101), lake bed Runway 15
- 1977 October 12 - Enterprise flight 7. Spacecraft: Enterprise. Launch Site: Edwards. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Fourth free flight, ALT, first tail cone off, Edwards (2 minutes, 34 seconds), Enterprise (OV-101), lake bed Runway 17
- 1977 October 26 - Enterprise flight 8. Spacecraft: Enterprise. Launch Site: Edwards. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Fifth free flight, ALT, final tail cone off, Edwards (2 minutes, 1 second), Enterprise (OV-101), concrete Runway 04
- 1977 October 28 - Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale, Columbia. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1977 November 4 - Deliver aft fuselage on dock, Palmdale, Columbia. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1977 November 7 - Forward RCS on dock, Palmdale (STA-099).
- 1977 December 13 - Complete propellant load testing, NSTL (MPTA-098).
- 1978 January 10 - Vertical stabilizer on dock, Palmdale, Columbia. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 January 18 - Second SRB firing, Thiokol.
- 1978 February 10 - Complete final assembly, STA-099, Palmdale. Spacecraft: Challenger.
- 1978 February 14 - STA-099 on dock, Lockheed facility, Palmdale. Spacecraft: Challenger.
- 1978 February 17 - Crew module on dock, Palmdale, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 February 24 - Body flap on dock, Palmdale, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 March 6 - Upper forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale, Columbia. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 March 19 - Aft payload bay doors on dock, Palmdale, Columbia . Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 April 24 - Start precombined systems test, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 May 19 - Start forward RCS thermal tests.
- 1978 May 26 - Upper forward fuselage mate, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 May 26 - Complete forward RCS structure, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 July 3 - Deliver left-hand OMS/RCS pod to WSTF.
- 1978 July 7 - Fourth static firing, MPTA-098.
- 1978 July 21 - First firing development test, OMS.
- 1978 July 31 - Operational readiness date, OPF 1.
Operational readiness date, Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1, shuttle landing facility, and Hypergolic Maintenance Facility, KSC
- 1978 August 11 - Complete test preparation, STA-099.
- 1978 August 11 - Complete forward RCS, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 August 11 - Complete forward RCS thermal test.
- 1978 September 8 - Start OMS left-hand development test.
- 1978 September 20 - Start acoustic test, forward RCS.
- 1978 September 25 - Start precombined system test, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1978 October 19 - Third SRB firing, Thiokol.
- 1978 November 11 - Complete forward RCS acoustic test.
- 1978 November 15 - Complete OMS development test.
- 1978 November 15 - Complete aft RCS development test.
- 1978 November 30 - Operational readiness date, Pad A, KSC.
- 1978 December 9 - Start OMS Phase I qualification tests.
- 1978 December 15 - Complete precombined system test, Columbia.. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1979 January 31 - Start left-hand OMS Phase I qualification test.
- 1979 January 31 - Start left-hand OMS Phase I qualification test.
- 1979 February 3 - Complete combined systems test, Palmdale, Columbia. Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1979 February 16 - Airlock on dock, Palmdale, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1979 February 17 - Fourth SRB firing, Thiokol.
- 1979 February 28 - Operational readiness date, shuttle landing site..
Operational readiness date, shuttle landing site, Edwards (Edwards AFB) Runway 23, for first manned orbital flight
- 1979 March 5 - Complete postcheckout, Palmdale, Columbia (OV-102). Spacecraft: Columbia.
- 1979 March 20 - Ferry flight, Edwards to El Paso. Spacecraft: Columbia.
Ferry flight, shuttle carrier aircraft/Columbia (OV-102) from Edwards to Biggs Army Air Base, El Paso, Texas (3 hours, 20 minutes)
- 1979 March 22 - Ferry flight El Paso to Kelly AFB. Spacecraft: Columbia.
Ferry flight, shuttle carrier aircraft/Columbia (OV-102) from Biggs Army Air Base to Kelly AFB, San Antonio, Texas (1 hr, 39 min)
- 1979 March 23 - Ferry flight, Kelly AFB to Eglin AFB, Fla. Spacecraft: Columbia.
Ferry flight, shuttle carrier aircraft/Columbia (OV-102) from Kelly AFB to Eglin AFB, Fla. (2 hours, 12 minutes)
- 1979 April 6 - Complete Phase I qualification tests, aft RCS.
- 1979 June 12 - Fifth static firing, MPTA-098, flight nozzles.
Fifth static firing, MPTA-098, NSTL, flight nozzles (54 seconds, early cutoff, accelerometer filters)
- 1979 June 15 - First SRB qualification firing.
First SRB qualification firing, Thiokol, Utah, 122 seconds; nozzle extension severed at end of run as in actual mission; full cycle gimbal
- 1979 June 21 - Start assembly crew module, Challenger (OV-099). Spacecraft: Challenger.
- 1979 July 2 - Sixth static firing, MPTA-098, flight nozzles..
Sixth static firing, MPTA-098, NSTL, flight nozzles (19 seconds, early cutoff-main fuel valve rupture)
- 1979 August 1 - Start long-lead fabrication crew module, Discovery. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
- 1979 August 11 - Ferry flight, Atlanta to St. Louis. Spacecraft: Enterprise.
Ferry flight, shuttle carrier aircraft/Enterprise (OV-101), Atlanta to St. Louis (1 hour, 50 minutes)
- 1979 August 14 - Ferry flight, Denver to Hill AFB, Ogden, Utah. Spacecraft: Enterprise.
Ferry flight, shuttle carrier aircraft/Enterprise (OV-101), Denver to Hill AFB, Ogden, Utah (1 hour, 30 minutes)
- 1979 August 15 - Ferry flight, Ogden to Vandenberg AFB. Spacecraft: Enterprise. Launch Site: Vandenberg.
Ferry flight, shuttle carrier aircraft/Enterprise (OV-101), Ogden to Vandenberg AFB (2 hours, 20 minutes)
- 1979 August 16 - Ferry flight, Vandenberg AFB to Edwards. Spacecraft: Enterprise. Launch Site: Edwards.
Ferry flight, shuttle carrier aircraft/Enterprise (OV-101), Vandenberg AFB to Edwards (1 hour, 10 minutes)
- 1979 August 27 - Start long-lead fabrication crew module, Discovery. Spacecraft: Discovery.
- 1979 August 31 - Complete OMS Phase II qualification tests.
- 1979 Late - STS-2A (cancelled). Spacecraft: Columbia.
In late 1977 shuttle orbital missions were due to start in 1979. STS-2, the second shuttle flight, was to have rendezvoused with the Skylab space station and released a small Skylab Reboost Module. This would dock to Skylab and boost the station to a higher orbit for later use. But the shuttle program also was hit with delays and before the first shuttle flew, Skylab burned up in the atmosphere and crashed into the Australian outback on July 11, 1979.
- 1982 March 22 - STS-3. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 10,301 kg (22,709 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned two crew. Payloads: Office of Space Science (OSS) experiments, Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR), Electro-phoresis Verification Test (EEVT), Plant Lignification Experiment.
- 1982 June 27 - STS-4. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 11,109 kg (24,491 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned two crew. Fourth space shuttle test flight. Payloads: Induced Environment Contamination Monitor (IECM), Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR), Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES), Development Flight Instrumentation (DFl), Orbiter Experiments (OEX), first NASA getaway special (GAS), Night/Day Optical Survey of Lightning (NOSL) experiment, Vapor Phase Compression (VPC) freezer heat exchanger dynamics for freezing samples, Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification Package (AClP) experiment.
- 1982 November 11 - STS-5. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 14,551 kg (32,079 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned four crew. First mission to deploy commercial communications satellites (SBS 3, Anik C3). Payloads: : Satellite Business Systems (SBS)-C with Payload Assist ; (PAM)-D; Telesat-E (Canadian communications satellite) with PAM-D. Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR), Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES), three getaway specials (GAS), Student experiments, GLOW experiment, Vestibular experiment, Oxygen Interaction With Materials experiment.
- 1983 April 4 - STS-6. Spacecraft: Challenger. Mass: 21,305 kg (46,969 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned four crew. First flight of space shuttle Challenger; deployed TDRSS. Payloads: Deployment of Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)-A with Inertial Upper Stage (lUS)-2, Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES), Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR), Night/Day Optical Survey of Lightning (NOSL) experiment, three getaway specials (GAS).
- 1983 April 4 - TDRS 1. Spacecraft: TDRS. Mass: 2,268 kg (5,000 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Element of satellite communications network, deployed from STS-6 5 April 1983. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 67 deg W in 1983; 41 deg W in 1983-1989; 79 deg W in 1989-1990; 170 deg W in 1990-1993; 85 deg E in 1994-1995; 49 deg W in 1996-on. As of 5 September 2001 located at 49.36 deg W drifting at 0.010 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 48.98W drifting at 0.029W degrees per day.
- 1983 June 18 - STS-7. Spacecraft: Challenger. Mass: 16,839 kg (37,123 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed Anik C2, Palapa B1; deployed and retrieved SPAS platform. Payloads: Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA)-2 experiments, deployment of PALAPA-B1 communications satellite for Indonesia with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D and Telesat-F communications satellite for Canada with PAM-D, German Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS)-01, seven getaway specials (GAS), Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR), Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES).
- 1983 August 30 - STS-8. Spacecraft: Challenger. Mass: 13,642 kg (30,075 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
First night launch and night landing. Deployed Insat 1B. Payloads: Deployment of INSAT (lndia communica-tion satellite) with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D, Payload Flight Test Article (PFTA)/ Payload Deployment Retrieval System (PDRS), Continuous Flow Electrophoresis (CFES), biomedical experiments. 250,000 express mail envelopes with special cachet for U.S. Postal Service were carried for a first-day cover.
- 1983 November 28 - STS-9. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 15,088 kg (33,263 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Carried ESA Spacelab. Payloads: Payload: Spacelab-1 experiments, habitable Spacelab and pallet, carried 71 experiments. The six-man crew was divided into two 12-hour-day red and blue teams to operate experiments. First high-inclination orbit of 57 degrees.
- 1984-1986 - Shuttle Columbia overhauled at Palmdale.. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
The ejection seats and flight instrumentation used for the first manned shuttle flights were removed. Head-up display and GPS avionics were installed. Orbiter 5.4 structural modifications were made; the disconnect valves, thermal protection system, and brakes were brought up to date. Provisions were made for use of the Manned Maneuvering Unit and 231 Master Change Requests were implemented.
- 1984 February 3 - STS-41-B. Spacecraft: Challenger. Mass: 15,362 kg (33,867 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed Westar 6, Palapa B2; tested Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU). Payloads: PALAPA-B2 (Indonesian communications satellite) with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D and WESTAR (Western Union communications satellite)-Vl with PAM-D. Both satellites were deployed but the PAM-D in each satellite failed to ignite, leaving both satellites in earth orbit. Both satellites were retrieved and returned to earth for renovation on the STS-51-A mission. The manned maneuvering unit (MMU) was tested with extravehicular astronauts as free flyers without tethers as far as 98 m from the orbiter. Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS)-01 experiments, Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR), Isoelectric Focusing Experiment (lEF), Acoustic Containerless Experiment System (ACES), Cinema 360 cameras, five getaway specials (GAS), Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification (ACIP)/High Resolution Accelerom-eter Package (HIRAP).
- 1984 April 6 - STS-41-C. Spacecraft: Challenger. Mass: 17,357 kg (38,265 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. First repair on orbit of a satellite, Solar Maximum Mission, by James van Hoften and George Nelson. Deployed LDEF. Payloads:Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) repair, manned maneuvering unit (MMU) satellite support, deployment of Long-Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) in earth orbit free drift. LDEF contained 57 experiments and weighed about 10,000 kg. Cinema 360 and IMAX 70-mm cameras.
- 1984 August 30 - STS-41-D. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 21,552 kg (47,514 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned six crew. First flight of space shuttle Discovery; deployed SBS 4, Leasat 1, Telstar 3C. Payloads: Satellite Business System (SBS)-D commu-nications satellite with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D deployment, Syncom IV-2 communica-tions satellite with its unique stage deployment, Telstar (American Telephone and Telegraph) 3-C with PAM-D deployment, Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST)-1 experiments. Deployment and restowing of large solar array. Continuous Flow Electrophoresis (CFES). IMAX camera.
- 1984 October 5 - STS-41-G. Spacecraft: Challenger. Mass: 10,643 kg (23,463 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Deployed ERBS; performed high resolution Earth imagery. Payloads: Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) deployment, Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA)-3 experiments, Large Format Camera (LFC). First use of Orbital Refueling System (ORS) with extravehicular activity (EVA) astronauts, IMAX camera. In response to the American Strategic Defence Initiative and continued military use of the shuttle, the Soviet Union fired a 'warning shot' from the Terra-3 laser complex at Sary Shagan. The facility tracked Challenger with a low power laser on 10 October 1984. This caused malfunctions to on-board equipment and discomfort / temporary blinding of the crew, leading to a US diplomatic protest.
- 1984 November 8 - STS-51-A. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 20,550 kg (45,300 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. First retrieval of two satellites (PALAPA B-2 and WESTAR Vl) for return to earth. Deployed Anik D2, Leasat 2; recovered Westar 6, Palapa B2. Payloads: Telesat (Canada communications satellite)-H with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D deploy-ment, Syncom IV-1 communications satellite deployment with its unique stage, retrieval of PALAPA B-2 and WESTAR VI communications satellites with PAM-D which failed to ignite on the STS-41-B mission. Manned maneuvering unit (MMU) used for retrieval. Diffusive Mixing of Organic Solutions (DMOS) experiment.
- 1985 January 24 - STS-51-C. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed USA 8 (Aquacade ELINT spacecraft). Orbits of Earth: 48. Landed at: Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Landing Speed: 342 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 839.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,240.00 m. Payloads: Department of Defence classified payloads.
- 1985 April 12 - STS-51-D. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 16,249 kg (35,822 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Payloads: Telesat (Canada communications satellite)-I with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D deployment, Syncom IV-3 communications satellite deploy-ment with its unique stage (unique stage failed to ignite), Continuous Flow Electrophoresis (CFES), Phase Partitioning Experiment (PPE), student experiments, two getaway specials (GAS) Informal science studies (Toys in Space).
- 1985 April 29 - STS-51-B. Spacecraft: Challenger. Mass: 14,245 kg (31,404 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Deployed Nusat; carried Spacelab 3. Payloads: Spacelab-3 experiments, habitable Spacelab and mission peculiar experiment support structure. The experiments represented a total of five different disciplines: materials processing in space, environmental observa-tions, life science, astrophysics, and technology experiments. Two getaway specials (GAS). The flight crew was split into gold and silver shifts working 12-hour days during the flight.
- 1985 June 17 - STS-51-G. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 20,174 kg (44,476 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Deployed and retrieved Spartan 1; launched Morelos 1, Arabsat 1B, Telstar 3D.Payloads: Shuttle Pointed Autono-mous Research Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN)-1; Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF); High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE); Orbiter Experiments (OEX); French Echocardiograph Experiment (FEE) and French Pocket Experiment (FPE).
- 1985 July 29 - STS-51-F. Spacecraft: Challenger. Mass: 15,603 kg (34,398 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. At 5 minutes, 45 seconds into ascent the number one engine shut down prematurely due to a a sensor problem and an abort to orbit was declared. Despite the anomaly the mission continued. Launched PDP; carried Spacelab 2. Payloads: Spacelab-2 with 13 experiments, Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX), Protein Crystal Growth (PCG). The flight crew was divided into a red and blue team. Each team worked 12-hour shifts for 24-hour-a-day operation.
- 1985 August 27 - STS-51-I. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 19,952 kg (43,986 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Launched Aussat 1, ASC 1, Leasat 4; repaired Leasat 3. Payloads: Deploy ASC (American Satellite Company)-1 with Payload Assist Modue (PAM)-D. Deploy AUSSAT (Australian communications satellite)-1 with PAM-D. Deploy Syncom IV-4 communications satellite with its unique stage. Retrieve Leasat-3 communications satellite, repair and deploy by extravehicular activity (EVA) astronauts. Physical Vapor Transport Organic Solids (PVTOS) experiment.
- 1985 October 3 - STS-51-J. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Atlantis (first flight); deployed USA 11, USA 12. Reusable space transportation system. Orbits of Earth: 63. Landed at: Runway 23 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Touchdown miss distance: 754.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,455.00 m. Payloads: Classified DoD Mission - Record altitude (as of 5/93).
- 1985 October 15 - SLC-6 declared operational for shuttle flights. Launch Site: Vandenberg.
Space Launch Complex 6, site of future Space Shuttle operations, declared operational. However, much additional work and testing required.
- 1985 November 27 - STS-61-B. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Mass: 21,791 kg (48,040 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Deployed Morelos 2, Aussat 2, Satcom K2, OEX. Payloads: Deploy SATCOM (RCA-Satellite Communi-cations) Ku-2 with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D II. Deploy Morelos (Mexico communications satellite)-B with PAM-D. Deploy AUSSAT (Australian communications satellite)-2 with PAM-D. EASE/ACCESS (Assembly of Structures— Assembly Concept for Construction of Erectable Space Structures) by extravehicular activity (EVA) astronauts, Continuous Flow Electrophore-sis System (CFES), Diffusive Mixing of Organic Solutions (DMOS), IMAX camera, one getaway special (GAS), Linhof camera and Hasseblad camera.
- 1986 January 12 - STS-61-C. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 14,724 kg (32,460 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Launched Satcom K1. Payloads: Deploy SATCOM (RCA-Satellite Communi-cations) Ku-1 with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D II. Materials Science Laboratory, Comet Halley Active Monitoring Experiment (CHAMP), Hitchhiker (HH) Goddard (G)-1, thirteen getaway specials (GAS), student experiment, Initial Blood Storage Equipment (lBSE), Characterization of Space Motion Sickness (SMS).
- 1988 September 29 - STS-26. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 21,082 kg (46,477 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. First shuttle reflight after Challenger disaster. Deployed TDRS 3. Payloads: Deploy IUS (lnertial Upper Stage) with Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)-C. 3M's Physical Vapor Transport Organics Solids 2 experiment (PVTOS), Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF), Infrared Communi-cations Flight Experiment (lRCFE), Protein Crystal Growth Il (PCG), Isoelectric Focusing (ISF)-2, Phase Partitioning Experiment (PPE), Aggrega-tion of Red Blood Cells (ARC)-2, Mesoscale Lightning Experiment (MLE)-1, Earth Limb Radiance (ELRAD), Orbiter Experiments (OEX), Autonomous Supporting Instrumentation System (OASlS)-I, two Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) experiments.
- 1988 December 2 - STS-27. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed a classified payload. Orbits of Earth: 68. Landed at: Runway 17 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Landing Speed: 359 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 447.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,171.00 m. Payloads: DoD Mission.
- 1989 March 13 - STS-29. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 17,280 kg (38,090 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed TDRS 4. Payloads: Deploy IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) with Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)-D. Protein Crystal Growth (PCG); Chromosome and Plant Cell Division in Space; IMAX 70mm camera; Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) experiments: SSIP 82-8, Effects of Weightlessness in Space Flight on the Healing of Bone Fractures, and SSIP 83-9, Chicken Embryo Development in Space; Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.
- 1989 August 8 - STS-28. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed 2 classified satellites. Landed at: Runway 17 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Landing Speed: 287 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 1,618.00 m. Landing Rollout: 1,833.00 m. Payloads: DoD Mission.
- 1989 September 20 - Space Launch Complex 6 placed on mothball status.. Launch Site: Vandenberg.
- 1989 October 18 - STS-34. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Mass: 22,064 kg (48,642 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed Galileo .Payloads: Deploy IUS with Galileo spacecraft. Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV), Polymer Morphology (PM) experiments, IMAX camera project, Mesoscale Lightning Experiment (MLE), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment, Growth Hormone Concentration and Distribution (GHCD) in Plants experiment, Sensor Technology Experiment (STEX), SSIP Student Experiment (SE) 82-15, Ice Crystals Experiment. First flight at this inclination.
- 1989 November 23 - STS-33. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed a classified payload. Orbits of Earth: 78. Distance traveled: 3,218,687 km. Landed at: Concrete runway 04 at Edwards Air Force Base, Cali. Landing Speed: 368 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 570.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,366.00 m. Payloads: DoD Mission - third space shuttle night launch.
- 1990 January 9 - STS-32. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 12,014 kg (26,486 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed Leasat 5, retrieved LDEF. Night landing. Payloads: Deployment of Syncom IV-5, retrieval of Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), Fluids Experiment Apparatus (FEA)-3, Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) III-2, Latitude/Longitude Locator (L3), American Flight Echocardiograph (AFE), Characterization of Neurospora Circadian Rhythms in Space (CNCR)-01, Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS)-4, Mesoscale Lightning Experiment (MLE), IMAX, Interim Operational Contamination Monitor (lOCM).
- 1990 February 28 - STS-36. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed a classified payload. Landed at: Runway 23 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Landing Speed: 368 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 494.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,407.00 m. Payloads: DoD Mission - Record altitude (through 5/93).
- 1990 April 24 - STS-31. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 13,005 kg (28,671 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Deployed HST (Hubble Space Telescope). Payloads: Deployment of Hubble Space Telescope, IMAX camera in payload bay and in crew compartment, Protein Crystal Growth III-03, Investigation Into Polymer Membrane Process-ing- 01, Air Force Maui Optical Site-05, Radiation Monitoring Equipment III-01, Student Experiment 82-16, and Ascent Particle Monitor 01.
- 1990 October 6 - STS-41. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 22,140 kg (48,810 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed Ulysses spacecraft. Payloads: Deploy Ulysses, Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet, Intelsat Solar Array Coupon, Solid-Surface Combustion Experiment, Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing, Chromo-some and Plant Cell Division in Space, Physiological Systems Experiment, Voice Command System, Radiation Monitoring Equipment III, Air Force Maui Optical Site.
- 1990 December 2 - STS-35. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 11,943 kg (26,329 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Carried ASTRO-1 observatory. Payloads: Ultraviolet Astronomy TeIescope (Astro), Broad-Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS).
- 1991 April 5 - STS-37. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Mass: 16,611 kg (36,620 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Unscheduled EVA to manually deploy the Gamma-Ray Observatory's high-gain antenna, which failed to deploy upon ground command. Payloads: Gamma-Ray Observatory (GRO), Crew/ Equipment Translation Aids (part of Extravehicular Activity Development Flight Experiment), Ascent Particle Monitor (APM), Bioserve Instrumentation Technology Associates Materials Dispersion Apparatus (BlMDA), Protein Crystal Growth (PCG)-Block Il, Space Station Heatpipe Advanced Radiator Element (SHARE)-ll, Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX)-ll, Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME)-lIl, Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) Calibration Test.
- 1991 April 28 - STS-39. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 9,712 kg (21,411 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Deployed USA 70, CRO A, CRO B, CRO C; deployed and retrieved IBSS. Payloads: Infrared Background Signature Survey (lBSS), Air Force Program (AFP)-675, Space Test Payload (STP)-I, Multi-Purpose Experiment Canister (MPEC), Cloud Logic to Optimize Use of Defense Systems (CLOUDS)-1A, Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME)-lll.
- 1991 June 5 - STS-40. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 11,767 kg (25,941 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Carried Spacelab life sciences module. Payloads: Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS)-1 with long module, getaway special bridge assembly with 12 getaway specials, Physiological Monitoring System (PMS), Urine Monitoring System (UMS), Animal Enclosure Modules (AEM), Middeck Zero-gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE), 7 Orbiter Experiments Program experiments.
- 1991 August 2 - STS-43. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Mass: 21,265 kg (46,881 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed TDRS 5 satellite. Payloads: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)-E/lnertial Upper Stage (lUS), Space Station Heatpipe Advanced Radiator Element (SHARE)-ll, Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) instrument 03, Optical Communications Through the Shuttle Window (OCTW), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) Calibration Test, Auroral Photography Experiment (APE)-B, Bioserve-lnstrumentation Technology Associates Materials Dispersion Apparatus (BlMDA)-02, Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP)-03, Protein Crystal Growth Ill Block Il, Space Acceleration Measure-ment System (SAMS), Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE)-02, Tank Pressure Control Experiment (TPCE).
- 1991 August 10 - Shuttle Columbia overhauled at Palmdale. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
The orbiter returned to service on 9 February 1992. 62 modifications were made, including replacement of the nose cap; removal of the SEADS and SUMS experiment packages; new Auxiliary Power Units installed; carbon brakes and a drag chute installed; Orbiter 6.0 structural modifications made; AP-101S General Purpose Computers replaced the older AP-101P's; and the Thermal Protection System was reworked.
- 1991 September 12 - STS-48. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 7,854 kg (17,315 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed UARS; conducted materials and biological research. Payloads: Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), Ascent Particle Monitor (APM)-03, Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE)-01, Protein Crystal Growth (PCG)-ll-2, Middeck Zero-Gravity Dynamics, Experiment (MODE)-01, Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP)-04, Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM-02), Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME)-lll-06, Shuttle Activation Monitor (SAM)-03, Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) Calibration Test.
- 1991 November 24 - STS-44. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Mass: 20,242 kg (44,625 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned six crew. Deployed Defense Support Program satellite. Payloads: Defense Support Program satellite/ Inertial Upper Stage, Interim Operational Contamination Monitor, Terra Scout, Military Man in Space, Shuttle Activation Monitor, Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor, Radiation Monitoring Equipment Ill, Air Force Maui Optical Site Calibration Test, Ultraviolet Plume Instrument, Visual Function Tester 1.
- 1992 January 22 - STS-42. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 13,001 kg (28,662 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Carried International Microgravity Laboratory-1. Payloads: International Microgravity Laboratory (lML)-1, getaway special (GAS) bridge with 10 getaway specials, IMAX camera, Gelation of Sols: Applied Microgravity Research (GOSAMR)-1, Investigations Into Polymer Mem-brane Processing (IPMP), Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME)-lll, Student Experiment 81-09: Convection in Zero Gravity, Student Experiment 83-02: Capillary Rise of Liquid Through Granular Porous Media.
- 1992 February 1 - Discovery OMDP-1. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Shuttle Discovery undergoes its OMDP-1 Orbiter Maintenance Down Period at the Kennedy Space Center. These are undertaken every 10 to 12 shuttle missions. 70 modifications are made, including addition of a brake chute, structural inspection, and thermal protection system refit.
- 1992 March 24 - STS-45. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Mass: 8,020 kg (17,680 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Carried ATLAS-1 experimental package. Payloads: Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS)-1, Shuttle Solar Backscat-ter Ultraviolet (SSBUV)-4, Getaway Special Experiment G-229, Space Tissue Loss (STL)-1, Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME)-lIl, Visual Function Tester (VFT)-lI, Cloud Logic To Opti-mize Use of Defense Systems (CLOUDS)-1A, Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Process-ing (IPMP), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX)-Il, Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPl).
- 1992 May 7 - STS-49. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Mass: 14,786 kg (32,597 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Retrieved Intelsat 6 and attached new SRM. First active dual rendezvous of two orbiting spacecraft (Endeavour and Intelsat-Vl). First deployment of a drag chute on the orbiter fleet. Payloads: Intelsat-Vl reboost mission hardware, Assembly of Station by EVA Methods (ASEM), Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) Calibration Test, Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPl).
- 1992 June 25 - STS-50. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 11,153 kg (24,588 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Carried United States Microgravity Laboratory. First extended-duration mission. Payloads: United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML)-1; Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE); Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX)-ll; Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPl) .
- 1992 September 12 - STS-47. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Mass: 12,772 kg (28,157 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Carried Spacelab-J with microgravity and biology experiments. Payloads: Spacelab-J, nine getaway special canister experiments, Israel Space Agency Investigation About Hornets (ISAIAH), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II, Solid Surface Combus-tion Experiment (SSCE).
- 1992 October 1 - Atlantis OMDP-1. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Shuttle Atlantis undergoes its OMDP-1 Orbiter Maintenance Down Period at the Palmdale, returning to service in May 1994. These are undertaken every 10 to 12 shuttle missions. Modifications made include: nose wheel steering changes, EDO cargo pallet provisions, and Mir ODS docking system fitting. Provisions for the Long Duration Orbiter 28-day pallet are installed, and 331 Master Change Requests are implemented.
- 1992 October 22 - STS-52. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 9,106 kg (20,075 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Deployed Lageos 2, CTA. Payloads: Laser Geodynamic Satellite (LAGEOS) II/ Italian Research Interim Stage (IRIS), Canadian Experiments (CANEX) 2, United States Micro-gravity Payload (USMP) 1, Attitude Sensor Pack-age (ASP), Tank Pressure Control Experiment (TPCE), Physiological Systems Experiment (PSE), Heat Pipe Performance (HPP) experiment, Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG), Shuttle Plume Impingement Experiment (SPIE), Commercial Materials ITA Experiment (CMIX), Crystals by Vapor Transport Experiment (CVTE).
- 1992 November 8 - Columbia OMDP-1. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Shuttle Columbia begins its OMDP-1 Orbiter Maintenance Down Period at the Palmdale, returning to service in 1995 for the STS-73 mission. These are undertaken every 10 to 12 shuttle missions. Modifications made included a complete mid-life refurbishment, corrosion control on the wing leading edge spar, and implementation of 96 Master Change Requests.
- 1992 December 2 - STS-53. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 11,868 kg (26,164 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Deployed classified military satellite USA 89. The ODERACS payload was unable to be deployed because of payload equipment malfunction. Payloads: Department of Defense (DOD)1; Glow Experiment/Cryogenic Heat Pipe Experiment Payload (GCP); Orbital Debris Radar Calibration System (ODERACS); Battlefield Laser Acquisition Sensor Test (BLAST); Cloud Logic To Optimize Use of Defense Systems (CLOUDS) 1A; Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM); Fluid Acquisition and Resupply Equipment (FARE); Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting and Environmental System (HER-CULES); Microencapsulation in Space (MIS)-1; Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME) III; Spare Tissue Loss (STL); Visual Function Tester (VFT)2.
- 1993 March 22 - Shuttle Columbia Pad Abort. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
The countdown for Columbia's launch was halted by on-board computers at T-3
seconds following a problem with purge pressure readings in the oxidizer preburner on
main engine #2 Columbia's three main engines were replaced on the launch pad, and
the flight was rescheduled behind Discovery's launch on STS-56. Columbia finally
launched on April 26, 1993.
- 1993 April 8 - STS-56. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 7,441 kg (16,404 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned five crew. Carried Atlas-2; deployed and retrieved Spartan 201. Payloads: Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS) 2, Shuttle Solar Backscat-ter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) A, Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN) 201 (Solar Wind Generation Experi-ment), Solar Ultraviolet Experiment (SUVE), Commercial Material Dispersion Apparatus (CMIX), Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE), Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting, and Environmental System (HER-CULES), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II, Space Tissue Loss (STL), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS), Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM), Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME) III.
- 1993 April 26 - STS-55. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 12,185 kg (26,863 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Carried German Spacelab-D2. Payloads: Spacelab D-2 with long module, unique support structure (USS), and Reaction Kinetics in Glass Melts (RKGM) getaway special, Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II.
- 1993 June 21 - STS-57. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Mass: 8,931 kg (19,689 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned six crew. Carried Spacehab 1; retrieved Eureca-1 spacecraft. Payloads: Spacehab 01, retrieval of European Retriev-able Carrier (EURECA) Satellite, Superfluid Helium On-Orbit Transfer (SHOOT), Consortium for Materials Development in Space Complex Autonomous Payload (CONCAP)-IV, Fluid Acquisition and Resupply Experiment (FARE), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II, Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS), GAS bridge assembly with 12 getaway special payloads.
- 1993 August 12 - Shuttle Discovery Pad Abort. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
The countdown for Discovery's third launch attempt ended at the T-3 second mark
when on-board computers detected the failure of one of four sensors in main engine #2
which monitor the flow of hydrogen fuel to the engine. All of Discovery's main engines
were ordered replaced on the launch pad, delaying the Shuttle's fourth launch attempt
until September 12, 1993.
- 1993 September 12 - STS-51. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 19,360 kg (42,680 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Deployed and retrieved Orfeus-SPAS. During the EVA conducted tests in support of the Hubble Space Telescope first servicing mission and future EVAs, including Space Station assembly and maintenance. First night landing at KSC. Payloads: Advanced Communication Technology Sat-ellite (ACTS)/Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS), Orbiting Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer—Shuttle Pallet Satellite (ORFEUS-SPAS) with Remote IMAX Camera System (RICS), Limited Duration Space Environ-ment Candidate Materials Exposure (LDCE) (Beam Configuration C), Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG Block II), Chromosome and Plant Cell Division in Space (CHROMEX), High Resolution Shuttle Glow Spectroscopy-A (HRSGS-A), Auroral Photography Experiment-B (APE-B), Investigation into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP), Radiation Monitoring Equip-ment (RME-III), Air Force Maui Optical Site Cal-ibration Test (AMOS), IMAX In-Cabin Camera.
- 1993 December 2 - STS-61. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Mass: 8,011 kg (17,661 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Manned seven crew. Hubble repair mission. Conducted the most EVAs (5) on a Space Shuttle Flight to that date. Payloads: Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Mission (SM) 1, IMAX Camera, IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS).
- 1994 February 3 - STS-60. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 13,006 kg (28,673 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Deployed ODERACS A-F, Bremsat, carried Wake Shield Facility. Payloads: Wake Shield Facility (WSF) 1 and SPACEHAB 02. Getaway special bridge assembly experiments: Capillary Pumped Loop (CAPL), Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres (ODERACS), University of Bremen Satellite (BREMSAT), G-514, G-071, and G-536. Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II; Auroral Photography Experiment (APE-B).
- 1994 March 4 - STS-62. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 8,870 kg (19,550 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Carried USMP-2, OAST-2, SAMPIE, TES, EISG. Payloads: United States Microgravity Payload (USMP) 2, Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) 2, Dexterous End Effector (DEE), Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet/A (SSBUV/A), Limited-Duration Space Environment Candidate Material Exposure (LDCE), Advanced Protein Crystal Growth (APCG), Physiological Systems Experiment (PSE), Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG), Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA), Auroral Photography Experiment Phase B (APE-B), Middeck Zero-Gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) Calibration Test, Bioreactor Demonstration System A.
- 1994 July 8 - STS-65. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 10,811 kg (23,834 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Carried IML-2; microgravity, biology experiments. Payloads: International Microgravity Laboratory (IML) 2, Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE), Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS), Military Applications of Ship Tracks (MAST), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX).
- 1994 August 18 - Shuttle Endeavour Pad Abort. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
The countdown for Endeavour's first launch attempt ended 1.9 seconds before liftoff
when on-board computers detected higher than acceptable readings in one channel of a
sensor monitoring the discharge temperature of the high pressure oxidizer turbopump in
main engine #3. A test firing of the engine at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on
September 2nd confirmed that a slight drift in a fuel flow meter in the engine caused a
slight increase in the turbopump's temperature. The test firing also confirmed a slightly
slower start for main engine #3 during the pad abort, which could have contributed to
the higher temperatures. After Endeavour was brought back to the Vehicle Assembly
Building to be outfitted with three replacement engines, NASA managers set October
2nd as the date for Endeavour's second launch attempt.
- 1994 September 9 - STS-64. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 9,260 kg (20,410 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Payloads: Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE), Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN) 201-II, Robot-Operated Materials Processing System (ROMPS), Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment (SPIFEX), getaway special (GAS) bridge assembly with ten GAS experiments, Trajectory Control Sensor (TCS), Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE), Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC) III, Radiation Monitoring Experiment (RME) III, Military Applications of Ship Tracks (MAST), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II, Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) Calibration Test.
- 1994 September 30 - STS-68. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Mass: 12,510 kg (27,570 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Carried SIR-C SAR. Landed at Edwards Air Force Base on October 11. Payloads: Space Radar Laboratory (SRL) 2, five Getaway Special payloads, Chromosome and Plant Cell Division in Space (CHROMEX) 5, Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC) 01, Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM), Military Application of Ship Tracks (MAST), Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG).
- 1994 November 3 - STS-66. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Mass: 10,544 kg (23,245 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Carried Atlas-3 laboratory; deployed and retrieved CRISTA-SPAS. Payloads: Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS) 3, Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmo-sphere (CRISTA)-Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS) 1, Experiment of the Sun for Complement-ing the ATLAS Payload for Education (ESCAPE) II, Inter-Mars Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (ITEPC), Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) A, Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE/NIH-R), Protein Crystal Growth (PCG-TES and PCG-STES), Space Tissue Loss (STL/NIH-C-A), Shuttle Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS), Heat Pipe Performance (HPP).
- 1995 March 2 - STS-67. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Mass: 13,116 kg (28,915 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Carried Astro 2 astronomy payload with 3 UV telescopes.(attached to Endeavour).Payloads: Ultraviolet Astronomy (ASTRO) 2; Middeck Active Control Experiment (MACE); Protein Crystal Growth—Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-TES) 03; Protein Crystal Growth—Single-Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES) 02; Commercial Materials Dispersion Apparatus Minilab/Instrumentation Technology Associates, Inc. Experiments (CMIX) 03; Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II; two getaway special experiments.
- 1995 July 13 - STS-70. Spacecraft: Discovery. Mass: 20,159 kg (44,442 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Deployed TDRS 7. Payloads: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) G/ Inertial Upper Stage (IUS); Bioreactor Demon-stration System (BDS) B; Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC); Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG); Hand-Held, Earth-Oriented, Real-Time, Cooperative, User-Friendly, Location-Targeting and Environmental System (HER-CULES); Microcapsules in Space (MIS) B; Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE)/National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rodents (R); Radiation Monitoring Experiment (RME) III; Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II; Space Tissue Loss (STL)/National Institutes of Health (NIH) Cells (C); Military Applications of Ship Tracks (MAST); Visual Function Tester (VFT) 4; Window Experiment (WINDEX).
- 1995 September 7 - STS-69. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Mass: 11,499 kg (25,350 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Deployed and retrieved Spartan 201, WSF 2. Payloads: Wake Shield Facility (WSF) 2; Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for As-tronomy (SPARTAN) 201; International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH)1; Inter-Mars Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (ITEPC); Extravehicular Activity Development Flight Test (EDFT) 2; Capillary Pumped Loop (CAPL) 2/ getaway special (GAS) bridge assembly with five GAS payloads; Auroral Photography Experiment (APE) B; Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC); Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA), Configuration A; Electrolysis Perfor-mance Improvement Concept Study (EPICS); Space Tissue Loss (STL)/National Institutes of Health (NIH) Cells (C); Commercial Middeck Instrumentation Technology Associates Experiment (CMIX).
- 1995 September 27 - Discovery OMDP-2. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
During this overhaul 96 Master Change Requests are made, including installation of the Orbiter Docking System for space station operations, installation of the EDO cargo pallet, and repair and update of the thermal protection system. Discovery is returned to service in July 1996.
- 1996 February 22 - STS-75. Spacecraft: Columbia. Mass: 10,592 kg (23,351 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Carried TSS-1R tether satellite; satellite tether broke during deployment, making TSS-1R an unintentional free flyer Payloads: Tethered Satellite System (TSS) Reflight (1R); Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE) (part of United States Microgravity Payload 3); USMP-3; Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG) 09, Block IV; Middeck Glovebox Experiment (MGBX) (part of USMP-3). During the deployment of TSS, the tether broke and the satellite was lost.
- 1996 May 19 - STS-77. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Mass: 12,233 kg (26,969 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Deployed and retrieved Spartan 2; deployed PAMS-STU; carried Spacehab module. Payloads: Shuttle Pointed Research Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN) 207/Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE); Technology Experiments Advancing Missions in Space (TEAMS) 01 (includes Vented Tank Resupply Experiment (VTRE), Global Positioning System (GPS) Attitude and Navigation Experiment (GANE) (RME 1316), Liquid Metal Test Experiment (LMTE) and Passive Aerodynami-cally Stabilized Magnetically Damped Satellite (PAMS) Satellite Test Unit (STU); SPACEHAB-4; Brilliant Eyes Ten-Kelvin Sorption Cryocooler Experiment (BETSCE); 12 getaway specials attached to a GAS bridge assembly (GAS 056, 063, 142, 144, 163, 200, 490, 564, 565, 703, 741 and the Reduced-Fill Tank Pressure Control Experiment (RFTPCE); Aquatic Research Facility (ARF) 01; Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC) 07, Block III.
- 1996 June 20 - STS-78. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Columbia carried Terence T Henricks, Kevin R Kregel, Susan J Helms, Richard M Linnehan, Charles E Brady, Jr, Jean-Jacques Favier, and Robert Brent Thirsk to orbit. Main payload was the Life and Microgravity Spacelab for conducting human biological and microgravity experiments. Columbia landed safely at Kennedy Space Center on July 7.
- 1996 November 19 - STS-80. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Mission STS-80 carried the Orfeus astronomy satellite, the Wake Shield Facility, and spacewalk equipment. The Orfeus satellite was deployed on November 20. It carried an
ultraviolet telescope and spectrographs. Wake Shield Facility was deployed on November 22 and retrieved on November 26 . On 1996 Nov 29, crewmembers Tamara Jernigan and Thomas Jones were to conduct the first of several planned EVAs. However the shuttle's exit hatch would not open and NASA cancelled this and the other planned spacewalks of the mission. On December 4 at the astronauts retrieved the Orfeus satellite using the RMS arm.
Reentry attempts on Dec 5 and Dec 6 were called off due to bad weather. Columbia finally landed at 11:49 GMT December 7 on Runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center, making STS-80 the longest shuttle mission to that date .
- 1997 February 11 - STS-82. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
After a spectacular night launch, the Shuttle completed its rendezvous with Hubble Space Telescope on February 13. Over the next four days five spacewalks were undertaken to renovate Hubble.
The Hubble Space Telescope was released back into orbit at 06:41 GMT on February 19. Discovery landed on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 08:32 GMT on February 21.
- 1997 April 4 - STS-83. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
The launch of STS-83, the first Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1) mission, was postponed for a day to replace some insulation around a water coolant line in Columbia's payload bay. Liftoff was further delayed 20 minutes due to anomalous oxygen readings in the orbiter's payload bay. STS-83 was cut short due to a problem with one of the three fuel cells that provide electricity and water to Columbia (flight rules required that all three must be operating). At 14:30 GMT on April 6 the crew were ordered to begin a Minimum Duration Flight (MDF). On April 8 the OMS engines ignited at 17:30 GMT for the deorbit burn, and Columbia landed on Runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center at 18:33 GMT.
With delays in International Space Station construction leaving ample room in the shuttle schedule, NASA made the unique decision to leave the equipment installed in Columbia and refly this mission with the same crew later in 1997 as STS-94.
- 1997 July 1 - STS-94. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
STS-94 was the reflight, with the same equipment and crew, of the curtailed STS-83 mission.
Cargo Bay Payloads:
- MSL-1: The Microgravity Science Laboratory included the first test of the International Space Station’s EXPRESS Rack. MSL-1 also contained numerous other experiment payloads to test materials and combustion processes in zero gravity.
- CRYOFD: The Cryogenic Flexible Diode (CRYOFD) heat pipe was a Hitchhiker payload.
- OARE: The Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment was a self-calibrating instrument that monitored extremely small accelerations and vibrations experienced during orbit of the Shuttle.
In-Cabin Payloads: SAREX, MSX
The mission this time went for its full two week duration and the crew completed the full list of experiments. The deorbit burn was on July 17, 1997 at 09:44 GMT and Columbia landed on KSC's Runway 33 at 10:46:34 GMT.
- 1997 August 7 - STS-85. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Deployed and retrieved the CRISTA-SPAS-2 (the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite-2) designed to study Earth's middle atmosphere. The CRISTA-SPAS-2 was making its second flight on the Space Shuttle and represented the fourth mission in a cooperative venture between the German Space Agency (DARA) and NASA.
CRISTA-SPAS was deployed by the RMS arm at 22:27 GMT on August 7 and was recaptured by Discovery's RMS arm at 15:14 GMT on August 16. Because of unfavorable weather conditions at the primary shuttle landing site at the Kennedy Space Center, Discovery was waved off for its scheduled August 18 landing. STS-85 landed the next day, at Kennedy Space Center at 11:08 GMT.
- 1997 November 19 - STS-87. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
OV-102 Columbia was launched on a microgravity science mission. Spartan 201 was released a day late on November 21. However the satellite did not start its automatic orientation maneuver because the crew failed to send it the correct commands prior to release.
Spartan was recaptured by hand, during a spacewalk by Takao Doi and Winston Scott on November 25. Tests of space station tools went well, but the free-flying Sprint camera subsatellite was not deployed due to lack of time.
NASA decided not to redeploy Spartan on this mission. During an EVA on Dec 3, Doi and Scott carried out more tests of the Space Station crane. They also deployed the AERCam/Sprint 'football' remote-controlled camera for a free flight in the payload bay.
Columbia landed on December 5, with a deorbit burn at 11:21 GMT. Touchdown was at 12:20 GMT at Kennedy Space Center.
- 1998 April 17 - STS-90. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Columbia rolled out to pad 39B on March 23. Payloads: - Spacelab transfer tunnel
- Spacelab Long Module, with Neurolab experiments for the following life science studies:
- Chronic Recording of Otolith Nerves in Microgravity
- Development of the Aortic Baroreflex under Conditions of Microgravity
- Neural-Thyroid Interaction on Skeletal Isomyosin Expression in OG
- Spatial Orientation of the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex and Velocity Storage
- Autonomic Neuroplasticity in Weightlessness
- Extended Duration Orbiter pallet
- Two Get Away Special beams with canisters G-197, G-467, G-772 (Colorado's COLLIDE experiment, which collided small particles into each other to simulate the formation of planets and rings).
The Neurolab mission was managed by NASA-Johnson at Houston, unlike earlier Spacelab flights which were NASA-Marshall/Huntsville's responsibility. Landed at Kennedy Space Center May 3 1998.
- 1998 October 24 - SEDSAT 1. Spacecraft: SEDSAT. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Delta.
Following separation of the third stage and the primary Deep Space 1 payload, the Delta second stage manoeuvred from its 185 km parking orbit to a 174 km x 2744 km x 28.5 degree orbit. It then released the SEDSAT micro-satellite, built by the Huntsville, Alabama chapter of SEDS (the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space). SEDSAT has two amateur radio transponders and an earth imaging camera.
- 1998 October 29 - STS-95. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
The flight of STS-95 provoked more publicity for NASA than any other flight in years, due to the presence of ex-astronaut Senator John Glenn on the crew, which also included the first Spanish astronaut, Pedro Duque. The US Navy PANSAT student satellite was deployed on Oct 30 into a 550 km x 561 x 28.5 degree orbit. The Spartan 201 satellite was deployed from Discovery on November 1 and retrieved on November 3. Spartan 201 was on its fifth mission to observe the solar corona. The data on this mission would be used to recalibrate the SOHO satellite which recently resumed observation of the Sun following loss of control. Discovery landed at 17:03:31 GMT November 7 on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center.
- 1998 October 29 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 01.
The Shuttle Discovery blasted off into a cloudless sky today at 1:19 p.m. Central time from the Kennedy Space Center to kick off a planned nine-day scientific research mission and to return John Glenn to space, 36 years, 8 months and nine days after he became the first American to orbit the Earth. Launch was delayed briefly while flight controllers evaluated an alarm during cabin pressure checks and several more minutes while range safety officers dealt with a stray aircraft in the launch area. Commander Curt Brown, Pilot Steve Lindsey, and Mission Specialists Steve Robinson, Scott Parazynski and Pedro Duque, along with Payload Specialists Chiaki Mukai and Glenn arrived on orbit less than nine minutes after launch, ready to begin activating Shuttle systems and experiments in the Spacehab module located in Discovery's cargo bay. The Shuttle's payload bay doors were expected to be opened about an hour and a half after launch, prior to the astronauts receiving a "go" to begin orbital operations. The timeline calls for the astronauts to spend most of the afternoon and evening completing the setup and activation of dozens of experiments they will conduct throughout the mission to study the effects of microgravity on the human body and materials. Discovery's astronauts are scheduled to begin an eight-hour sleep period about 11:45 p.m. Central time tonight and are due to be awakened tomorrow about 7:45 a.m. to begin their first full day of activity in orbit. About 45 minutes after launch, Discovery's orbital maneuvering engines fired to round out the orbit at about 350 miles. The spacecraft is orbiting Earth every 90 minutes. All of Discovery's systems are performing normally.
- 1998 October 29 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 02.
The crew of Discovery sailed through an opening day in orbit this afternoon, staying ahead of schedule for the most part as they prepared the spacecraft and a slate of more than 80 experiments for nine days in orbit. Three hours and ten minutes into the flight, astronaut John Glenn, Discovery's Payload Specialist 2, relayed his first communication to Mission Control as the Shuttle flew 342 miles above Hawaii. "Hello, Houston. This is PS 2 and they got me sprung out of the middeck for a little while. We are just going by Hawaii and that is absolutely gorgeous," Glenn said. "Roger that. Glad you are enjoying the show," responded Mission Control Capcom Bob Curbeam. "Enjoying the show is right. This is beautiful. The best part is ... a trite old statement: zero-g and I feel fine," Glenn said. Less than two hours later, Discovery's Commander Curt Brown noted that the mission had surpassed the four-hour, fifty-five minutes, 23 seconds duration of Glenn's 1962 flight on Friendship 7. Discovery is scheduled to remain in orbit for a total of eight days, twenty-one hours and fifty minutes. As the astronauts' day wound down, Brown narrated a videotape of Glenn, Chiaki Mukai and Steve Robinson recorded on the Shuttle's lower deck during the climb to orbit. The video showed Glenn, Mukai and Robinson from liftoff through shut off of the Shuttle's main engines. The crew quickly entered and began research work with experiments in the Spacehab module during the evening, as well as powering up a variety of studies mounted in the Shuttle's payload bay. The experiments range from technology tests of Hubble Space Telescope equipment to studies of the sense of balance using fish as subjects to investigations of the ultraviolet radiation environment. As the crew sleeps, the research will continue as Glenn takes a special thermistor capsule before bed that will record his body's core temperature during the night as part of mission's sleep research. Discovery is in excellent condition with few problems reported by the crew or noted by flight controllers, and no issues that are of concern as a significant impact to the flight. At launch, an 18 x 22 inch door to a compartment that holds the Shuttle's drag chute apparently came loose a few seconds before liftoff. The loss of the 11-pound door is not expected to have any impact on the flight and does not affect the safety of the crew. While setting up equipment in orbit, the crew noted a slight water leak from a hose associated with a new system, being flown as a test on Discovery, that removes iodine from the Shuttle's drinking water. Flight controllers requested the crew simply not use the new system and instead use a proven older system that accomplishes the same task. Discovery is in an orbit with a high point of 349 statute miles and a low point of 340 statute miles, circling Earth once every one hour, 35 minutes and 54 seconds.
- 1998 October 30 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 03.
Discovery's astronauts will spend their first full day in space supporting wide-ranging activities, from releasing a small communications satellite to studying the behavior of materials at an atomic level. Commander Curt Brown, Pilot Steve Lindsey and Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski will release PANSAT, the Petite Amateur Naval Satellite, early this afternoon. PANSAT is a small non-retrievable satellite developed by the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California. Designed to enhance the education of the military officers at the school through developing and observing its operation in space, PANSAT will capture and transmit radio signals that normally would be lost because the original signals were too weak or had too much interference. Mission Specialists Steve Robinson and Parazynski will check out Discovery's Remote Manipulator System robot arm today to verify its operation prior to Sunday's scheduled deployment of the SPARTAN spacecraft for two days of free flight. During the checkout, they will survey the payload bay and also look at a possible loose tile on the left Orbital Manuevering System (OMS) engine pod, which was reported by Brown last night. ESA Astronaut Pedro Duque and NASDA Astronaut Chiaki Mukai will check out and prepare the Middeck Glove Box, an enclosed research facility that will support numerous investigations throughout the mission. The glove box, referred to as MGBX, is a microwave sized research facility that provides the astronauts an opportunity to perform hands-on investigations in a controlled environment. Early this afternoon, Payload Specialist-2, John Glenn, will activate the MEPS experiment. MEPS, the Microgravity Encapsulation Process, studies the formation of capsules containing two kinds of anti-tumor drugs that could be delivered directly to solid tumors and has applications in chemotherapy treatments. In addition, regularly scheduled exercise sessions and routine housekeeping chores also will occupy the crew's first full day on orbit, which promises to be a busy one for all seven members of the STS-95 crew. Flight Day 2 began at 7:45 a.m. central time today when the crew was awakened to the sounds of Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World," played for Mission Specialist -2 Scott Parazynski from his wife, Gail. Discovery is in an orbit with a high point of 349 statute miles and a low point of 340 statute miles, circling Earth once every one hour, 35 minutes and 54 seconds.
- 1998 October 30 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 04.
Discovery's crew moved through a steady pace of experiments during the Shuttle's first full day in orbit, releasing a miniature telecommunications satellite and conducting a variety of medical and material research. Commander Curt Brown, Pilot Steve Lindsey and Payload Specialist John Glenn took a few minutes break from the research work to provide a status on the mission thus far, with Glenn describing his adaptation to weightlessness and the views of Earth from Discovery. Early this afternoon, the crew released the Petite Amateur Naval Satellite, or PANSAT, which is now trailing Discovery by about 27 miles, increasing that distance by about 9 miles with each orbit. PANSAT, developed by the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, will remain in orbit and test innovative technologies to capture and transmit radio signals that normally would be lost because the original signals were too weak or contained too much interference. Mission Specialists Steve Robinson and Scott Parazynski unstowed and checked out Discovery's 50-foot long robot arm, finding everything in good condition and ready for Sunday's scheduled deployment of the SPARTAN solar science spacecraft. Robinson and Parazynski also surveyed the exterior of Discovery, observing a small piece of loose insulation on the left rear of the spacecraft. The loose insulation poses no problems for the Shuttle. The crew also used the arm to test a new wireless camera technology that can be used with reflectors in the cargo bay to develop a system that may lead to a new alignment aid for arm operators. The crew will begin an eight-hour sleep period at about 11:10 p.m. and awaken at 7:10 a.m. Central time on Saturday to begin day three of the mission. Discovery is orbiting at an altitude of 349 statute miles by 340 statute miles, circling the Earth once every one hour, 35 minutes and 54 seconds.
- 1998 October 31 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 05.
Medical investigations will begin in earnest today as Discovery's crew moves forward with research comparing the changes the human body goes through when making trips into orbit with the changes that occur as part of the natural aging process on Earth. Payload Specialist John Glenn, 77, will begin providing the 10 blood samples and 16 urine samples needed to look into the effects of space flight on his body. Researchers want to better understand how the removal of gravity affects balance and perception, immune system response, bone and muscle density, metabolism and blood flow, and sleep. Mission Specialist Pedro Duque, 35, also will provide blood samples, which will be taken by Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski and Payload Specialist Chiai Mukai, both trained physicians. The blood draws are part of the Protein Turnover in Space Flight study, which will track the balance between protein building and breakdown, the two parts of protein turnover that contribute to muscle atrophy. The astronauts in the experiment take small amounts of the amino acids alanine and histidine, which contain a special tracer molecules, 12 hours before each blood draw. This research may help benefit people on Earth who suffer from weakened muscles or loss of bone mass. The on-orbit researchers also will continue their examinations of plants., animals and other materials as they react to environmental changes related to the absence of gravity. And Canadian developers of a Space Vision System will check out on board software that will allow them to switch from camera to camera in the payload bay and provide precise positioning information for use by robot arm operators assembling the pieces of the International Space Station. Early in the crew day, Commander Curt Brown will switch back to a tried and true method of removing iodine from the shuttle's drinking water supply. Yesterday, the crew reported a strange taste in water coming out of a system being tested for the first time. Ground researchers are trying to determine what is causing the strange taste. Iodine is used to prevent contamination of the water system tanks and lines, but must be removed before the crew drinks the water or uses it in food preparation. At 11:35 a.m., Brown and Glenn will answer questions posed by students at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio; the Newseum in Arlington, Va., and John Glenn High School in New Concord, Ohio. The crew was awakened at 7:10 a.m. Central time to the sounds of "Cachito," a song about parenthood. Duque and his wife, Consuelo, recently had a baby. The crew will go to bed at 10:35 p.m.
- 1998 October 31 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 06.
Discovery's crew spent much of the last half of today in preparation for tomorrow's planned release of the Spartan solar science satellite, checking out the tools and equipment that will be used during the release and separation from the satellite. The crew also began several of the medical studies planned for the flight that investigate how the human body changes in weightlessness and how those changes compare with those that occur as part of the natural aging process on Earth. For those studies, 77-year old Payload Specialist John Glenn began providing some of the 10 blood samples and 16 urine samples that will be taken during the mission to study the effects of space flight on his body. The checkout of equipment that will be used for tomorrow's deploy of the Spartan included a check of the Orbiter Space Vision System by astronauts Steve Robinson and Scott Parazynski. The system uses special markings on the satellite and shuttle cargo bay to provide an alignment aid for the arm's operator derived from shuttle television images. It will be used extensively on the next Space Shuttle flight in December, STS-88, as an aid in using the arm to join together the first two International Space Station modules. Later this evening, a check of navigation equipment and aids that will be used during the Spartan release was scheduled. Glenn and Commander Curt Brown also took time out from the experiment work to speak with students in Ohio and Virginia about the scientific activities aboard Discovery. Discovery remains in excellent condition with no equipment problems to interrupt the ongoing research. The shuttle is orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 340 statute miles. The crew is scheduled to go to sleep tonight at 10:35 p.m. and awaken at 6:35 a.m. Central on Sunday.
- 1998 November 1 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 07.
Chris Rice's "Hallelujahs" awakened Discovery's seven astronauts at 6:35 a.m. Central time today to begin their fourth day of science activities. The song was requested by pilot Steve Lindsey's wife, Diane. Today's primary activity will be deployment at 1:03 p.m. CST this afternoon of the Spartan solar physics satellite, which will fly free of Discovery for two days studying the outer layers of the sun's atmosphere. Mission Specialist Steve Robinson will use Discovery's robot arm to grapple Spartan from its berth in the payload bay and prepare it for its release. Once it is deployed, Spartan will conduct a programmed pirouette maneuver that will confirm that all of its systems are working normally. Commander Curt Brown then will maneuver Discovery away from the satellite, first to a short distance for a test of a communications link that will permit Spartan ground controllers to make fine pointing adjustments to one of the satellite's science instruments. Brown then will increase Discovery's separation to a distance of about 40 miles in front of Spartan. The satellite will be retrieved by Robinson using the robot arm on Tuesday. Spartan was unable to perform solar science studies last November following problems with its deployment during the STS-87 mission aboard Columbia. Spartan's two main instruments - the Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrometer and the White Light Coronagraph, will measure atomic temperatures and densities, as well as solar wind velocities in the sun's corona so scientists can better understand the forces that create solar wind, and the impact it has on the electromagnetic environment around the Earth. Solar wind can have major impacts on communications technology on Earth. Discovery's astronauts also will continue a battery of medical studies as they explore how the human body adapts to the weightless environment of space and how those changes compare with those seen as part of the aging process on Earth. As part of the Canadian OSTEO experiment, Payload Specialist John Glenn will feed bone cell cultures as part of an evaluation of bone cell activity under microgravity conditions. Glenn will again provide blood samples as part of the Protein Turnover Experiment, which is looking at the balance between the building and breakdown of muscle. He also will work with the Advanced Organic Separations (ADSEP) experiment, which provides the capability to separate and purify biological materials in microgravity; and with the Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System (MEPS), which studies the formation of anti-tumor capsules containing two kinds of drugs. Other research today will include use of the Advanced Gradient Heating Facility (AGHF) for directional solidification and crystal growth, and the Microgravity Glovebox (MGBX) for investigations of colloids, or systems of fine particles suspended in fluid.. At 4:35 p.m. Central time, Brown and Glenn will take part in a news conference with reporters at the Johnson Space Center. Discovery is orbiting the Earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 340 statute miles with all systems operating in excellent condition.
- 1998 November 1 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 08.
Discovery's crew released a second satellite today, a telescope package that will fly free of the Shuttle for two days to study the sun and the solar wind, research that may help scientists better understand a phenomenon that sometimes can cause widespread disruptions of communications and power supplies on Earth. Mission Specialist Steve Robinson, using Discovery's robotic arm, lifted the Spartan satellite from the shuttle's cargo bay and released it into orbit at 12:59 p.m. Central. A few minutes later, after a maneuver by the satellite indicated it was operating properly, Commander Curt Brown fired Discovery's jets to move away. Brown maintained a distance from six to 10 statute miles from the satellite for about nine hours while several tests of an experimental communications system on Spartan were conducted, using the Shuttle as a relay station. After a couple of minor problems early on, the communications link has worked well. Spartan normally requires no communications for its studies, and it is capable of performing all of its observations automatically and recording the data gathered onboard without any interaction with the ground. Just before the crew goes to bed this evening, Brown will fire Discovery's jets to further separate from Spartan, slowly moving out to a distance of more than 30 miles from the satellite. Spartan is scheduled to be retrieved by the Shuttle at 2:45 p.m. Central on Tuesday. Following the satellite release this afternoon, Brown and astronaut John Glenn took time out to speak with reporters at the Johnson Space Center, fielding questions about all aspects of the historic flight during a 40-minute press conference. Discovery remains in excellent condition. The crew is scheduled to begin a sleep period at 10 p.m. Central tonight and awaken at 6 a.m. on Monday. During the night, Glenn and fellow Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai will wear a host of sensors recording their movements and other information as part of the sleep research being conducted during the flight. Discovery is in a 348 by 338 statute mile orbit.
- 1998 November 2 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 09.
Discovery's astronauts were awakened at 6 a.m. Central time this morning by Andy Williams' rendition of the 1962 Academy Award winning song, "Moon River." Annie Glenn requested the song as a tribute to the longstanding friendship between Williams and her husband, Payload Specialist John Glenn. The seven crew members are looking forward to some free time today, following yesterday's successful deployment of the Spartan solar physics satellite, which will study the outer layers of the sun's atmosphere until it is retrieved by Discovery tomorrow. Work will continue today with a wide variety of science experiments on board, although at a somewhat slower pace. Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai and Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski - both physicians - will draw blood from Glenn and Mission Specialist Pedro Duque of Spain as part of the Protein Turnover Experiment, which assesses the body's breakdown and metabolism of protein before, during and after space flight. Mukai and Glenn, each of whom wore an electrode net on their heads, as well as other measuring devices, during last night's sleep period, will complete some cognitive performance tests as part of their participation in the sleep study. The cognitive tests will include measurements of how quickly they respond to light cues on a lap-top computer. Glenn and Mukai will don the electrode net again before turning in this evening. The electrodes are connected to a digital sleep recorder that monitors brain waves, eye movements, muscle tension, body movements and respiration. Mukai will swallow a capsule containing either melatonin or a placebo as part of the study before going to sleep. Parazynski will check the status of components of the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test (HOST) payload, which provides an on-orbit test bed for hardware that will be used during the third Hubble servicing mission. Parazynski and Pilot Steve Lindsey also will set up some of the tools that will be used during Tuesday's rendezvous and subsequent capture and reberthing of the Spartan satellite. Steve Robinson will use the Shuttle's robot arm to grapple Spartan tomorrow afternoon after Discovery completes its rendezvous with the sun-watching probe. Other science activities today will include the collection of video data from the Advanced Gradient Heating Facility (AGHF) used for directional solidification and crystal growth, and from the Microgravity Glovebox (MGBX), which is used for investigations of colloids, or systems of fine particles suspended in fluid. Parazynski also will complete the 5th feeding of the bone cell culture that is part of the OSTEO experiment, an evaluation of bone cell activity under microgravity conditions. Commander Curt Brown will spend some time this morning working with the Electronic Nose device, which was developed to detect, identify and quantify a wide range of organic and inorganic molecules and provide a comprehensive measurement of on-board air quality. Mukai will be busy checking on the Vestibular Function Experiment Unit (VFEU), which holds two toadfish. The fish are electronically monitored to determine the effect of gravitational changes on the balance system in the inner ear. She also will monitor the Astroculture-8 facility that is designed to provide a controlled environment in which to grow plants in the weightlessness of space. At 9:55 a.m. Central time, Brown, Duque and Glenn will receive a congratulatory call from Esperanza Aguirre, the Education Minister of Spain. Duque, the first Spaniard to fly in space, also will take questions from school children representing 17 regions of Spain. At 4:00 p.m. Central time, Brown and Glenn will take part in unilateral interviews with the five major U.S. television networks. Discovery is orbiting the Earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 349 statute miles with all systems operating in excellent condition.
- 1998 November 2 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 10.
Discovery's crew took a few hours break from the continuous pace of research activity on board today, a standard rest period for the crew that is planned during longer shuttle flights. Research continues, however, as the Spartan solar science satellite released by Discovery yesterday now trails the Shuttle by about 30 miles, performing observations of the sun and the solar wind. Discovery Commander Curt Brown and Payload Specialist John Glenn also took time out to answer questions about the mission from reporters with major broadcast television networks in the U.S. during the afternoon. Later, Pilot Steve Lindsey and Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski set up lap top computers in Discovery's cockpit in preparation for the retrieval of the Spartan satellite on Tuesday. Spartan is planned to be recaptured by the Shuttle at 2:45 p.m. tomorrow. The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 9:25 p.m. Central tonight and awaken at 5:25 a.m. Tuesday. Prior to going to sleep, Brown will perform a small firing of Discovery's steering jets to maintain the distance from Spartan during the crew's night. Also, Glenn and fellow Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai will don special instrumentation they will wear for a second night in a row that records a variety of information such as brain waves and body motions as they sleep. Discovery remains in excellent condition with no systems problems of concern to Mission Control, orbiting Earth at an altitude of 348 by 338 statute miles.
- 1998 November 3 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 11.
Discovery's astronauts began the second half of their flight at 5:25 a.m. Central time this morning to the sounds of Stevie Ray Vaughn's "If the House is A-Rockin," in honor of Mission Specialist Steve Robinson. Robinson is known as "Stevie Ray Robinson" by the other members of the astronaut band known as "Max Q". After enjoying a break in their schedule yesterday, the crew is focusing its attention on this afternoon's retrieval of the Spartan solar physics satellite, which has spent the past two days studying the outer layers of the sun's atmosphere. Retrieval is set for 2:45 p.m. Central time. Rendezvous activities will begin when Commander Curt Brown fires Discovery's engines to lower the shuttle, causing it to accelerate ahead of the satellite. Discovery will fly over the top of Spartan, then coast back to about 8 or 9 miles behind the satellite. Brown and Pilot Steve Lindsey then will maneuver Discovery into position as Robinson powers up Discovery's 50-foot robot arm. Discovery will approach Spartan from beneath the sun probe to a distance of 35 feet. At that point, With the assistance of Scott Parazynski, Robinson will use the remote manipulator system to grapple Spartan to complete the first phase of its scientific mission. As Discovery closes in on Spartan today, the astronauts will test a device called the Video Guidance Sensor, a component of an automated docking system being prepared for use on the International Space Station. It is a laser system that provides precise measurements of how far away the shuttle is from a target and how fast it is moving toward or away from the target. Before grappling Spartan, Discovery will back away from the satellite to test the maximum range capability of the guidance system. Spartan will be used again tomorrow for data collection, once again being unberthed from its payload bay cradle for a few hours so that cameras can be pointed at a series of targets on the spacecraft. Those cameras will test the Space Vision System that uses remote camera views to provide a robot arm operator with the ability to view areas that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Other crew members will continue work with several of the on-board science experiments. Japanese Space Agency Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai and fellow Payload Specialist John Glenn, along with Parazynski and European Space Agency Mission Specialist Pedro Duque, will undergo another series of blood draws. They will then take small amounts of the amino acids alanine and histidine, which contain special tracer molecules, 12 hours before another blood draw. This research is part of the Protein Turnover Experiment that may benefit people on Earth who suffer from weakened muscles or loss of bone mass. Duque, Mukai and Glenn also will collect urine samples as part of the study. Glenn will don electrodes and a data recorder known as a holter monitor, which will record his heart rhythm on orbit, as part of an investigation of heart rate variability during space flight. He also will be kept busy feeding bone cell cultures that are part of the OSTEO experiment, an evaluation of bone cell activity under microgravity conditions, and he will work with the Advanced Organic Separations (ADSEP) experiment, which provides the capability to separate and purify biological materials in microgravity.. Glenn and Duque will spend time with the Astroculture plant-growing experiment and with the MEPS (Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System) that studies the formation of anti-tumor capsules containing two kinds of drugs. Duque will collect video data and photograph samples from the Microgravity Glovebox (MGBX), which is used for investigations of colloids, or systems of fine particles suspended in fluid. As part of the evaluation of sleep disturbances in astronauts, Mukai and Glenn will complete a questionnaire about their personal observations of the previous night's sleep. They also will take a computerized battery of tests that measure reaction time, short-term memory, hand-eye coordination and other assessments. Mukai will continue her work with the Japanese Vestibular Function Experiment Unit (VFEU), which holds two toadfish that are electronically monitored to determine the effect of gravitational changes on the inner ear's balance system. She also will monitor the Astroculture-8 facility that is designed to provide a controlled environment in which to grow plants in the weightlessness of space. Discovery is orbiting the Earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 341 statute miles with all systems operating in excellent condition.
- 1998 November 3 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 12.
The SPARTAN satellite was captured and returned to its berth this afternoon, successfully completing its two-day solar science mission. SPARTAN Mission Manager Craig Toohey congratulated the crew and flight control team on their performance in executing the mission exactly as planned. Toohey said that 30 percent of the science data already had been linked to the ground and the remainder would be off-loaded at landing. SPARTAN Scientist Dr. Richard Fisher noted that investigators were pleased to have the satellite in orbit near a solar maximum cycle and that its instruments had captured sought-after data on a solar mass ejection event. The rendezvous began with Commander Curt Brown firing Discovery's orbital maneuvering engines to drop Discovery's orbit, accelerating it ahead of the SPARTAN. After closing the distance, Brown and pilot Steve Lindsey maneuvered Discovery in close as Mission Specialist 1 Steve Robinson operated the 50-foot robot arm. With MS2 Scott Parazynski assisting, Robinson directed the arm to a smooth grapple of the satellite at 2:45 p.m. CST. SPARTAN was placed in its berth in Discovery's cargo bay a short time later. During the final maneuvers, astronauts tested the Video Guidance Sensor, a component of an automated docking system being prepared for use on the International Space Station. Flight Controllers noted that the system worked as planned. Spartan will be used again tomorrow for data collection, once again being unberthed from its payload bay cradle for a few hours so that cameras can be pointed at a series of targets on the spacecraft. Those cameras will test the Space Vision System that uses remote camera views to provide a robot arm operator with the ability to view areas that cannot be seen with the naked eye. While SPARTAN operations captured most of the attention today, other science operations continued aboard Discovery. Payload Specialists Chiaki Mukai and John Glenn, along with Parazynski and European Space Agency Mission Specialist Pedro Duque, continued taking blood samples as part of the Protein Turnover Experiment measuring muscle changes in zero gravity. Glenn also attached electrodes and a data recorder to himself which record his heart rhythm on orbit, as part of an investigation of heart rate variability during space flight. He also fed bone cell cultures that are part of the OSTEO experiment, an evaluation of bone cell activity under microgravity conditions, and he worked with the Advanced Organic Separations (ADSEP) experiment, which provides the capability to separate and purify biological materials in microgravity.. Glenn and Duque worked with the Astroculture plant-growing experiment and with the MEPS (Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System) that studies the formation of anti-tumor capsules containing two kinds of drugs. Duque collected video data and photograph samples from the Microgravity Glovebox (MGBX) which is used for investigations of colloids, or systems of fine particles suspended in fluid. Mukai continued her work with the Japanese Vestibular Function Experiment Unit (VFEU), which holds two toadfish that are electronically monitored to determine the effect of gravitational changes on the inner ear's balance system All systems aboard Discovery continue to operate well.
- 1998 November 4 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 14.
The seventh day in orbit for Space Shuttle Discovery and its seven-member astronaut crew was packed with ongoing science operations. Early in the day, Mission Specialist Steve Robinson, assisted by Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski, tested the Orbiter Space Vision System. OSVS uses special markings on Spartan and the shuttle cargo bay to provide an alignment aid for the arm's operator using shuttle television images. This was its final on-orbit test before going into operational use on the next Space Shuttle flight in December as an aid in using the arm to join together the first two modules of the International Space Station. This afternoon Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai along with STS-95 commander Curt Brown and Payload Specialist-2 John Glenn took a phone call from Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Minister of State for Science and Technology, Yutaka Takeyama. Also today, Brown, Glenn and pilot Steve Lindsey conversed with veteran newsman Walter Cronkite and NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin during a luncheon in Houston celebrating NASA's 40th anniversary. NBC's Jay Leno of the Tonight Show also interviewed Glenn, Brown and Lindsey in a conversation that will be aired on NBC tonight. In other activity in space today, crew members continued work with several of the on-board science experiments. Brown, Lindsey, Robinson and Glenn completed a daily back-pain questionnaire by as part of a study of how the muscle, intervertebral discs and bone marrow change after exposure to microgravity. Glenn and Mukai continued to record their food consumption and will once again don a sleep net and special sleep suit tonight. Electrodes on the sleep net and sensors in the sleep suit monitor brain waves, eye movements, muscle tension, body movements and respiration. The electrodes and sensors are connected to a digital sleep recorder that records a variety of measurements as they sleep. Mukai also will swallow a capsule containing either melatonin or a placebo as part of the sleep study. Glenn removed the Holter monitor electrodes and data recorder he has worn for the past 24 hours, recording his heart rhythm on orbit, as part of an investigation of heart rate variability during space flight. Blood samples were again taken from Glenn and ESA astronaut Pedro Duque as part of the experiment monitoring the changes in muscle tissue in space. Glenn and Lindsey operated the Astroculture plant-growing experiment, while Scott Parazynski and Duque monitored the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MGBX) experiments known as Colloidal Disorder-Order Transition and Structural Studies of Colloidal Suspension. Colloids are systems of fine particles suspended in fluid. Researchers hope to learn more about how the organization of atoms changes as they form into orderly solid structures. Duque deactivated these two experiments for the remainder of the mission. Mukai continued her work with the Japanese Vestibular Function Experiment Unit (VFEU), which holds two toadfish that are electronically monitored to determine the effect of gravitational changes on the inner ear's balance system. All systems on board Discovery continue to operate well.
- 1998 November 4 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 13.
Music from Japan awakened Discovery's astronauts at 4:50 a.m. Central time this morning. "Wakaki Chi," a cheering song from Keio University where Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai received her medical degree, was played in recognition of the phone call she will receive at 2:55 p.m. from Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Minister of State for Science and Technology, Yutaka Takeyama. The astronauts will once again remove the Spartan solar science satellite from its berth in Discovery's payload bay for several hours of data collection. Cameras will be pointed at a series of targets on the spacecraft to test the Space Vision System, which uses remote camera views to provide a robot arm operator with the ability to see areas that are out of viewing area. This morning Mission Specialist Steve Robinson, assisted by Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski, will again test the Orbiter Space Vision System. OSVS uses special markings on Spartan and the shuttle cargo bay to provide an alignment aid for the arm's operator using shuttle television images. It will be used extensively on the next Space Shuttle flight in December as an aid in using the arm to join together the first two modules of the International Space Station. Robinson will use the shuttle's 50-foot robot arm to grapple Spartan, unlatch it and maneuver it into position. Following the OSVS tests, he will use the Video Guidance Sensor to assist in the reberthing processes. VGS provides precise measurements of how far away the shuttle is from Spartan and how fast it is moving toward or away from the target. VGS is a component of an automated docking system being prepared for use on the International Space Station. Other crew members will continue work with several of the on-board science experiments. Commander Curt Brown, Lindsey, Robinson and Payload Specialist John Glenn will complete a daily back-pain questionnaire by as part of a study of how the muscle, intervertebral discs and bone marrow change after exposure to microgravity. Glenn and Japanese Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai will once again don a sleep net before going to sleep this evening. Each also will wear a special sleep suit. Electrodes on the sleep net and sensors in the sleep suit will monitor brain waves, eye movements, muscle tension, body movements and respiration. The electrodes and sensors are connected to a digital sleep recorder that records a variety of measurements as they sleep. Mukai also will swallow a capsule containing either melatonin or a placebo as part of the sleep study. Parazynski and Mukai will draw more blood from ESA Mission Specialist Pedro Duque and Glenn as part of the Protein Turnover Experiment (PTO), which is examining muscle atrophy during exposure to microgravity. Glenn will remove and stow the Holter monitor electrodes and data recorder he has worn for the past 24 hours. The Holter monitor recorded his heart rhythm on orbit, as part of an investigation of heart rate variability during space flight. He also will process blood samples as part of the PTO experiment. Glenn and Lindsey will spend time with the Astroculture plant-growing experiment, while Parazynski and Duque will collect more video data and photograph the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MGBX) experiments known as Colloidal Disorder-Order Transition and Structural Studies of Colloidal Suspension. Colloids are systems of fine particles suspended in fluid. Researchers hope to learn more about how the organization of atoms changes as they form into orderly solid structures. Duque then will deactivate these two experiments for the remainder of the mission. Mukai will continue her work with the Japanese Vestibular Function Experiment Unit (VFEU), which holds two toadfish that are electronically monitored to determine the effect of gravitational changes on the inner ear's balance system. Brown, Lindsey and Glenn will take part in an interview with CBS Radio news and the Tonight Show beginning at 12:30 Central time this afternoon. Discovery is orbiting the Earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 341 statute miles with all systems operating in excellent condition.
- 1998 November 5 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 16.
Some of the 80-plus experiments aboard Discovery were being wrapped up today as the end of the STS-95 mission approaches. Others will continue through Friday afternoon, the final full day on orbit. Pilot Steve Lindsey and Mission Specialists Steve Robinson and Pedro Duque checked out a new communications systems for use during spacewalks. The new, digital communications system should provide enhanced communication quality between the space-walking astronauts, the orbiter and the flight control team in Houston. Work with the Orbiter Space Vision System (OSVS) concluded today with a test of camera quality under varied lighting conditions. Robinson cycled through Discovery's payload bay cameras exposing each to day and nighttime conditions to validate how well the cameras can "see" the OSVS targets. Deactivation of some of the experiments began today. After using the Electronic Nose one last time to test the shuttle's air quality, Brown deactivated it for the rest of the mission. The Electronic Nose is a miniaturized electronic air quality monitoring system that mimics the way the human nose detects changes in the air. Duque also shutdown the Microgravity Science Glovebox and stowed equipment associated with that research facility. The crew took time from its busy day today to talk with U.S., Japanese and European reporters at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, as well as with reporters gathered at the European Space Agency's Villafranca tracking facility outside Madrid, Spain. Vice President Al Gore, former Astronaut Scott Carpenter and school children from the Washington D.C. area also had an opportunity to talk with the astronauts, asking questions about John Glenn's return to space and the work being done in orbit. For the final time later this evening, Payload Specialists Glenn and Chiaki Mukai will don sleep nets and specially-instrumented suits to monitor brain waves, eye movements, muscle tension, body movements and respiration during their sleep period. Preliminary weather forecasts indicate generally favorable weather to support Saturday's landing at 11:10 a.m. Central time at the Kennedy Space Center. Remnants of tropical storm Mitch are expected to pass through the area and move off Florida's east coast Friday night, allowing good weather for landing on Saturday. Discovery is orbiting the Earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 341 statute miles with all systems operating well.
- 1998 November 5 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 15.
The Moody Blues awakened Discovery's seven astronauts at 4:15 a.m. Central time this morning for their eighth day of on-orbit science activities. The song, "I Know You're Out There Somewhere," was chosen by Commander Curt Brown's family. With the Spartan solar science satellite again secured in its berth in Discovery's payload bay, the astronauts will turn their full attention to some of the more than 80 experiments on board. They also will begin shutting down some of the experiments and facilities in anticipation of their return to Earth on Saturday morning. Mission Specialist Steve Robinson will power up the Orbiter Space Vision System (OSVS) for an image optimization test. OSVS will be used in International Space Station assembly as a key source of precision data with which the robot arm operator will perform station assembly activities. Robinson and European Space Agency Mission Specialist Pedro Duque also will power up the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and check the unit's communications system. The EMU would be used should a spacewalk become necessary; it provides pressure, thermal and micro-meteoroid protection, oxygen, cooling water, drinking water, food, waste collection (including carbon dioxide removal), electrical power and communications. As they have throughout the flight, Commander Curt Brown, Pilot Steve Lindsey, Mission Specialist Steve Robinson and Payload Specialist John Glenn will complete a back-pain questionnaire as part of a study of how the muscle, intervertebral discs and bone marrow change due to microgravity. Results will be compared with data provided by astronauts during previous missions. Glenn will continue blood sample analysis and blood processing that are part of the Protein Turnover (PTO) experiment, which is studying the muscle loss that occurs during space flight. Better understanding of the mechanisms of muscle loss may help scientists combat the muscle wasting commonly seen as a result of aging and in bedridden individuals. Deactivation of some of the experiments will begin today. After using the Electronic Nose one last time to test the shuttle's air quality, Brown will deactivate it for the duration of the mission. The Electronic Nose is a miniaturized electronic air quality monitoring system that mimics the way the human nose detects changes in the air. Duque also will do a final shutdown of the Microgravity Science Glovebox and stow equipment associated with the facility. Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski will check on the fish in the Vestibular Function Experiment Unit (VFEU). By studying how the balance organs of oyster toadfish in the VFEU adapt to microgravity, scientists hope to gain important insights about similar functions in humans and apply this information to develop therapies for equilibrium disorders on Earth. At 12:10 p.m. Central time, the entire crew will gather for a press conference with U.S. and Japanese reporters at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, as well as with reporters gathered at the European Space Agency's Villafranca tracking facility outside Madrid, Spain. At 2:40 p.m. Central time, the astronauts will gather again for a conversation with Vice-President Al Gore and former Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter from the White House. Before going to sleep Wednesday night, the entire crew will gather for the traditional crew photograph. Then Glenn and Japanese Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai will don for the last time their sleep nets and suits to monitor brain waves, eye movements, muscle tension, body movements and respiration during sleep. Mukai also will swallow a capsule containing either melatonin or a placebo as part of the sleep study. Lindsey and Mukai will conduct additional work with the Astroculture experiment to study the growth of plants in the weightless environment of space. Brown and Glenn will complete the eighth and ninth feedings of the bone cell cultures that are part of the Canadian OSTEO experiment. Preliminary weather forecasts indicate generally favorable weather to support Saturday's landing at 11:10 a.m. Central time at the Kennedy Space Center. Remnants of tropical storm Mitch are expected to pass through the area and move off Florida's east coast Friday night, allowing good weather for landing on Saturday. Discovery is orbiting the Earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 341 statute miles with all systems operating in excellent condition.
- 1998 November 6 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 18.
Discovery's seven-member crew Friday packed up and prepared for the trip home Saturday with a landing planned for mid-day at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If weather and spacecraft systems cooperate, Discovery will touch down at KSC at 11:04 a.m. Central time after having flown 134 orbits of the Earth. Deorbit ignition of the shuttle orbiter's maneuvering engines will occur at 9:53 a.m. CST to slow the spacecraft's forward velocity allowing it to drop back into the Earth's atmosphere. Returning as an unpowered hypersonic glider, Discovery will follow a ground track taking it across Texas and Louisiana before it sweeps out over the Gulf of Mexico and into Florida. Weather was predicted to be marginal, near the acceptable limits for crosswind and with scattered to broken clouds. There are two landing opportunities to KSC Saturday and two to Edwards Air Force Base, California. Discovery has a second chance to land at KSC at 12:45 p.m. CST or could land at Edwards at either 12:35 p.m. or 2:17 p.m. Weather at Edwards was predicted to be good on Saturday but unacceptable on Sunday. KSC weather will be marginal both days. Earlier Friday, entry Capcom Susan Still told Discovery Commander Curt Brown that the plan would be to try both opportunities into KSC before considering the Edwards landing. If Discovery lands Saturday, the seven astronauts will spend the night at the landing site before returning to Houston mid-day on Sunday to a welcome at Ellington Field. Earlier today, Commander Curt Brown and Pilot Steve Lindsey spent a good part of their day checking out important spacecraft systems for entry and landing. One of the three auxiliary power units was turned on to provide hydraulic power for a test of the orbiter's aerodynamic surfaces. The reaction control jets were test fired and the shuttle's communications equipment tested. One of the RCS jets leaked during testing and was isolated. It will have no effect on entry and landing. At the end of the crew day, the Ku-band antenna which provides television and high-rate data relay was stowed for the duration of the mission.
- 1998 November 6 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 17.
Discovery's astronauts were awakened at 3:40 a.m. Central time this morning to begin their final full day in orbit and make preparations to assure that Discovery is ready for entry and landing. Today's wake-up song was "Voyage into Space," an original composition written for John Glenn by composer and pianist Peter Nero, a long-time friend of the Glenns. Commander Curt Brown and Pilot Steve Lindsey will spend a good part of their day checking out important spacecraft systems for entry and landing. At about 7:20 a.m. Central time, the commander and pilot will begin the flight control system checkout, powering up one auxiliary power unit and evaluating the performance of aerodynamic surfaces and flight controls. The flight crew will perform a reaction control system hot fire about 8:30 a.m., followed by a test of the communications system. At about 12:30 p.m. Central time, the crew will begin stowing the equipment used to conduct the mission's array of on-board science activities. Just before turning in for the night, Lindsey will stow the Ku-band antenna, which provides high data-rate relay and television. The flight control teams in the Mission Control Center are also preparing for Saturday's landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Preliminary weather forecasts indicate generally favorable weather to support Saturday's landing at 11:06 a.m. Central time. Remnants of tropical storm Mitch have passed through the area and moved off Florida's east coast. Discovery is orbiting the Earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 341 statute miles with all systems operating well.
- 1998 November 7 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 19.
The seven astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Discovery were awakened at 3:09 a.m. this morning to make final preparations for their return to Earth later this morning. "La Cucaracha," a well-known Spanish song, was played for Mission Specialist Pedro Duque at the request of his wife, Consuelo. If weather and spacecraft systems cooperate, Discovery will touch down at Kennedy Space Center at 11:04 a.m. Central time after completing 134 orbits of the Earth. Deorbit ignition of the orbiter's maneuvering engines will occur at 9:53 a.m. CST to slow the spacecraft's forward velocity, allowing it to drop back into the Earth's atmosphere. Returning as an unpowered hypersonic glider, Discovery will follow a ground track taking it across Texas and Louisiana before it sweeps out over the Gulf of Mexico and into Florida. Weather in Florida is predicted to be near but within acceptable margins for crosswinds and clouds. Today there are two landing opportunities at KSC and two to Edwards Air Force Base, California. Discovery has a second chance to land at KSC at 12:45 p.m. CST or could land at Edwards at either 12:35 p.m. or 2:17 p.m. Weather at Edwards is predicted to be good on Saturday but unacceptable on Sunday. KSC weather will be near margins both days. Flight controllers will try both opportunities into KSC before considering the Edwards landing. Although a normal entry, approach, and landing are expected, precautionary plans are in place to accommodate a deployment of Discovery's drag chute during reentry. The Shuttle Training Aircraft that performs routine weather observations prior to landing and during final approach will also visually monitor Discovery's drag chute compartment. If Discovery lands today, the astronauts will spend the night at KSC before returning to Houston mid-day on Sunday to a welcome at Ellington Field.
- 1998 November 7 - STS-95 Mission Status Report # 20.
Discovery's astronauts glided to a smooth landing at the Kennedy Space Center today to wrap up a nine-day, 3.6 million mile mission which marked the return of John Glenn to orbit and saw the crew members successfully conduct more than 80 scientific experiments. Commander Curt Brown and Pilot Steve Lindsey set Discovery down on the 3-mile long landing strip at KSC at 11:04 a.m. Central time, following a flawless hour-long descent back from space. A missing drag chute compartment door, which popped off during liftoff on October 29, posed no problem for the astronauts and had no effect on the landing. For Payload Specialist Glenn, the landing was a gentler return home than he experienced more than 36 years ago when he splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean in his Friendship 7 capsule after becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn experienced only about 3 g's of gravitational force during today's reentry, half of what he experienced during his Mercury capsule mission in 1962. "One G and I feel fine," Glenn exclaimed from the middeck following Discovery's wheelstop on Runway 3-3 at the Kennedy Space Center. "The view is still tremendous, give yourselves a pat on the back," Glenn added, as he congratulated his crew mates on the completion of the 92nd flight in Shuttle Brown, Lindsey, Glenn, Mission Specialists Steve Robinson, Scott Parazynski and Pedro Duque of the European Space Agency and Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai of NASDA were scheduled to be reunited with their families later today following postflight medical exams and medical tests associated with some of the biomedical experiments performed during the mission. The astronauts will spend the night near the Kennedy Space Center tonight before leaving Florida tomorrow morning for a heroes' welcome back at Ellington Field in Houston Sunday. Current plans call for the astronauts to leave the Cape Canaveral Air Station Skid Strip late Sunday morning for an arrival at Ellington around 2 p.m. Central time, where a crew return ceremony will mark their homecoming at Hangar 276, led by NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, Johnson Space Center Director George W.S. Abbey, members of Congress and Houston Mayor Lee Brown. A parade in downtown Houston is planned for the STS-95 astronauts on Wednesday, Nov. 11, Veteran's Day, to honor the crew, the nation's veterans and NASA.
- 1999 July 23 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 03.
Chandra was deployed from Columbia a little more than seven hours into the flight at 6:47 a.m. CDT. Thanks to a pair of burns by its inertial upper stage (IUS), the third of NASA's four great observatories is now on its way to an elliptical orbit that will support five years of observations into the X-ray mysteries of the universe. "We were extremely confident in the IUS system in placing Chandra in it's orbit," said NASA IUS Mission Director Representative Rob Kelso. "In addition, this mission culminated in more than three years of training for the IUS flight team at the USAF Onizuka Air Station. We couldn't be more pleased with the success of the IUS and being able to start this important observatory on it's way." Following an eight hour sleep period, Columbia's five member crew -- Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission Specialists Cady Coleman, Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini of the French Space Agency (CNES) -- were awakened at 6:31 p.m. CDT to begin their second day in space. The main focus of the crew's Flight Day 2 activities will be in activating the secondary payloads and experiments being carried on the flight. Among those efforts will be the set up and first observations using the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System (SWUIS) that operates from inside the shuttle cabin. SWUIS is used to image planets and other solar system bodies in order to explore their atmospheres and surfaces in the ultraviolet (UV) region of the spectrum, which astronomers value for its diagnostic power. SWUIS, making its second flight on STS-93, will obtain ultraviolet imagery of an array of planetary and astrophysical targets. The specific targets that SWUIS will observe include Earth's moon, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. At 4:36 a.m. CDT Saturday morning, Collins and Coleman will take a break to do interviews with network reporters from CBS "Saturday Morning," the Fox News Network, the NBC "Saturday Today Show" and Cable News Network (CNN). Columbia is flying smoothly on in an orbit 187 x 176 miles above the Earth, circling the planet every 90 minutes with its systems operating in excellent shape.
- 1999 July 23 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 02.
A little more than seven hours after Columbia and its five astronauts were launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Chandra was spring-ejected from a cradle in the shuttle's cargo bay at 6:47 a.m. Central time, as Columbia flew over the Indonesian Island chain. Commander Eileen Collins, the first female Shuttle Commander, maneuvered Columbia to a safe distance away from the telescope as an internal timer counted down to the first of a two-phase ignition of the solid-fuel Inertial Upper Stage. The IUS lit up as scheduled at 7:47 a.m., and a few minutes later, shut down as planned, sending Chandra on a highly elliptical orbit which will be refined over the next few weeks by a series of firings of telescope thrusters, designed to place Chandra in an orbit about 6900 x 87,000 statute miles above the Earth. After the IUS' second stage shut down, Chandra's solar arrays deployed at 8:22 a.m. on command from telescope controllers at the Chandra Operations Control Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who will oversee the activation of the observatory's systems and its scientific activities. The IUS then separated from Chandra at 8:49 a.m. CDT, establishing it with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory as the third in a series of four astronomical instruments designed by NASA to paint a comprehensive portrait of the unknown mysteries of the universe. With Chandra safely on its way and the major objective of their mission successfully completed, the astronauts will end their long day and begin an eight-hour sleep period at 10:31 a.m. Central time. They'll be awakened at 6:31 tonight to begin their second day in orbit, a day devoted to secondary experiments in the shuttle's middeck area. Columbia is flying smoothly on in an orbit 187 x 176 miles above the Earth, circling the planet every 90 minutes with its systems operating in excellent shape.
- 1999 July 23 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 01.
The Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off late Thursday night (early Friday morning, Eastern time) to carry five astronauts to orbit for the long-awaited deployment of Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which will unveil previously invisible mysteries of the universe. After two previous postponements, Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission Specialists Cady Coleman, Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini lit up the skies at Kennedy Space Center at 11:31 p.m. Central time Thursday (12:31 a.m. Eastern time Friday), to kick off the 95th mission in shuttle program history. It was the 20th nighttime launch. About 5 seconds after liftoff, flight controllers noted a voltage drop on one of the shuttle's electrical buses. Because of this voltage drop, one of two redundant main engine controllers on two of the three engines shut down. The redundant controllers on those two engines -- the center and right main engines -- functioned normally, allowing the engines to fully support Columbia's climb to orbit. The left engine was unaffected. Main engine controllers receive commands from the shuttle's general purpose computers, and send commands to main engine components. Flight controllers and the crew continue to work to identify more precisely the cause of the voltage drop. Less than nine minutes after liftoff, the first female shuttle commander and her crew were in orbit, ready to begin a full night of work to prepare Chandra for its deployment as the third of NASA's Great Observatories. It will study the invisible, and often violent mysteries of x-ray astronomy. After the astronauts open their cargo bay doors, they will conduct health checks on the Chandra telescope and its two-stage solid-fuel Inertial Upper Stage booster. If all goes as planned, the astronauts will send commands later this morning to elevate the 56-foot long spacecraft to its deployment position behind Columbia's crew cabin. After a critical "go-no go" decision by flight controllers in Houston and at the Chandra Operations Control Center in Cambridge, Mass., cables routing electrical power to Chandra from Columbia will be disconnected; Chandra will be on internal battery power until its solar arrays are deployed. The schedule calls for Coleman and Tognini to command Chandra to be spring-ejected from its cradle at 6:48 a.m. Central time. Collins and Ashby then will maneuver Columbia to a "window protection" orientation with the belly of the shuttle pointed toward the Inertial Upper Stage booster nozzle. One hour after deployment, with Columbia about 30 nautical miles behind Chandra, the telescope's booster is scheduled to ignite in two stages, sending Chandra to its preliminary elliptical orbit. The telescope eventually will reach an oval orbit one-third of the distance to the Moon to conduct its astronomical observations. Chandra's solar arrays are to unfurl just prior to the separation of the Inertial Upper Stage's second stage, at which point telescope controllers in Massachusetts will begin several weeks of activation procedures before Chandra officially begins its astronomical investigations. Columbia's astronauts are in excellent shape, with the shuttle currently orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 178 by 175 miles.
- 1999 July 23 - STS-93. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
STS-93 was first rolled out to pad 39B on June 7 1999. The Chandra/IUS-27 vehicle was placed in the payload canister on June 19. The first launch attempt was on July 20, but controllers aborted the launch at T-6 seconds, just before main engine ignition, due to a data spike in hydrogen pressure data. This was determined to be due to a faulty sensor and a second attempt was on July 22. A lightning storm prevented launch during the 46 minute window, and the launch was again scrubbed. Finally the vehicle lifted off the pad on July 23, but five seconds after launch a short in an electrical bus brought down two of the three main engine controllers. Backup controllers took over, but a further failure on the backup controller bus would have resulted in engine shutdown and the first ever attempt at an RTLS (Return To Launch Site) abort. To further complicate matters engine 3 (SSME 2019) had a hydrogen leak throughout the ascent, causing the engine to run hot. Controllers sweated as temperatures neared redline. The hot engine’s controller compensated as programmed by using additional liquid oxygen propellant. The final result was that the shuttle ran out of gas - main engine cut-off (MECO) was at 04:39 GMT, putting Columbia into a 78 km x 276 km x 28.5 degree transfer orbit. Columbia was 1,700 kg short of oxygen propellant and 5 meters/sec slower than planned. The OMS-2 engine burn at 05:12 GMT circularised the orbit 10 km lower than planned.
The orbiter payload bay contained only the Chandra spacecraft, the IUS, and the IUS tilt tableTthe following payloads were carried in the shuttle’s cabin: STL-B (Space Tissue Loss), CCM (Cell culture module), SAREX-II (Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment), EarthKam, PGIM (Plant Growth Investigations in Microgravity), CGBA (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus), MEMS (Micro-electric Mechanical System), and BRIC (Biological Research in Canisters) and SWUIS (the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System, an 0.18-m UV telescope to be used for airglow and planetary observations); GOSAMR (the Gelation of Sols: Applied Microgravity Research experiment) and LFSAH, the Lightweight Flexible Solar Array Hinge. MSX and SIMPLEX experiments were also to be carried out.
Chandra/IUS-27 was deployed from Columbia at 11:47 GMT July 23. Flight duration was limited; this was the heaviest shuttle (122,534 kg) and heaviest payload (19,736 kg) to that date. Columbia landed at 03:20 GMT on July 28 on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center. Post-flight inspection found the presence of holes in the cooling lines on the nozzle of SSME 2019 (engine 3) which caused a hydrogen leak. A loose repair pin in the engine broke free and caused the failure. The cause of the short was found to be chaffed wiring inside the shuttle. The entire fleet was grounded for inspection and replacement of wiring as necessary.
- 1999 July 24 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 05.
Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission Specialists Cady Coleman, Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini were awakened at 5:31 p.m. CDT with the song "Brave New Girls," performed by Teresa. Hawley, the resident astronomer of the STS-93 crew, will continue his work with the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System, or SWUIS instrument, to collect imagery of targets associated with Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and the Moon. Although small, the sensitive SWUIS system has unique attributes that make it a valuable complement to more expensive space observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope. Among these attributes are SWUIS's unusually wide field of view (up to 30 times Hubble's) and its ability to observe objects much closer to the Sun than most space observatories. This latter capability allows SWUIS to explore the inner solar system -- something few other instruments can do. Collins and Ashby will be responsible for maneuvering Columbia in support of various experiments including observations made with the SWUIS telescope or the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX), which uses sophisticated sensors to collect ultraviolet, infrared, and visible light data of firings of the shuttle's orbital maneuvering system engines or primary reaction control system jets. Collins also will conduct a conversation with students at the Harbor View Elementary School in Corona Del Mar, California using the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) system. She also will check experiments associated with the Cell Culture Module (CCM) and the Biological Research In Canister (BRIC) payloads. At 4:36 a.m. CDT on Sunday, Collins and Coleman will conduct an interview with CBS Radio Network. Coleman also will be interviewed by Donna Shirley, former mission manager for the Mars Pathfinder Project, in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Arts' Mars Millenium Project. Coleman will work with the Plant Growth Investigations in Micro-Gravity (PGIM) and the Lightweight Flexible Solar Array Hinge (LFSAH) experiments, and document on-orbit operations with High Definition Television (HDTV) equipment. Ashby will tend to various orbiter systems and check the Space Tissue Loss (STL) experiment. STL is a payload designed to validate models of bone and muscle loss induced by the weightless environment of space. Tognini will use the SAREX system to conduct a ham radio conversation with fellow French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haignere who is currently flying aboard the Russian Mir Space Station. That communication opportunity is planned for early Sunday morning at 12:33 a.m. CDT. He'll also help check the BRIC and LFSAH experiments, and work with experiments in the Commercial Generic Bio-Processing Apparatus (CGBA). While the STS-93 crew presses on with the remainder of its flight, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory team at the Operations Control Center in Cambridge, Mass., is preparing for the first burn of Chandra's Integral Propulsion System. The firing is scheduled for about 8:11 p.m. CDT on Saturday, July 24. Two of Chandra's four Liquid Apogee Engines will burn for approximately five minutes. Tonight's burn will be the first of four apogee burns that will result in an increase to Chandra's perigee. Later in the mission, there will be one perigee burn to increase the spacecraft's apogee. There are four engines, two primary and two redundant. Each engine has 105-pounds of thrust and uses hydrazine as fuel with nitrogen tetroxide as the oxidizer. Following the first Integral Propulsion System burn, the new perigee is expected to be 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) and the new apogee is expected to be 45,014 miles (72,023 kilometers). Chandra's new orbit duration will be 24 hours, 38 minutes, slightly longer than its current orbit of 24 hours, 17 minutes. Columbia is orbiting at an altitude of 158 x 148 nautical miles circling the Earth once every 90 minutes.
- 1999 July 24 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 04.
Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission Specialists Cady Coleman, Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini worked on experiments involving everything from astronomy to biomedicine to plant growth as the shuttle continued to orbit the Earth every 90 minutes in excellent shape. Hawley, the resident astronomer on board, used the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System, or SWUIS instrument, to collect imagery of Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and the moon in this, its second flight into space. Hawley reported that he could not see a new comet called Lynn, but that the SWUIS may have captured imagery of the comet for investigators on the ground. The telescopic instrument is mounted on the side hatch window in the shuttle's middeck. Coleman monitored several plant growth experiments while Tognini collected data from a biological cell culture experiment. The two astronauts collaborated on the smooth deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory yesterday. Chandra is currently orbiting the Earth in a highly elliptical orbit of about 200 statute miles by 44,000 statute miles, thanks to the successful firing of its two-stage Inertial Upper Stage booster an hour after it was spring-ejected from Columbia's cargo bay cradle. The first of five scheduled firings of Chandra's thrusters to refine its orbit is planned for 8:16 p.m. Central time tonight, a five-minute firing of the telescope's liquid-fuel propulsion system. That maneuver should leave Chandra in an orbit of about 774 statute miles by 44,600 miles. Four additional maneuvers are expected over the next two weeks. Collins and Ashby fired Columbia's large orbital maneuvering system engines and primary reaction control system jets on several occasions to provide data for researchers in a pair of experiments designed to characterize jet thruster plumes in the space environment. They also conducted a successful test of a procedure called the "flycast" maneuver in a rehearsal for the STS-99 mission in September, in which a 200-foot mast will be deployed from the cargo bay of the shuttle Endeavour equipped with a sophisticated radar system to study Earth's topographical features. The maneuver uses multiple thruster firings and the shuttle's autopilot system to maintain stability. The procedure will be crucial for the September mission to minimize disturbances to the radar mast. Coleman also conducted several tests of High Definition Television equipment carried on board Columbia. HDTV gear is being tested for future use on both the shuttle and the International Space Station to conform to evolving broadcasting industry standards for television products. The astronauts are scheduled to begin an eight-hour sleep period at 9:31 a.m. Central time this morning and will be awakened at 5:31 this afternoon to begin their third day in space. Columbia is currently orbiting at an altitude of 177 statute miles.
- 1999 July 25 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 06.
Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission Specialists Cady Coleman, Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini conducted experiments ranging from astronomical observations with an ultraviolet telescope to cell culture studies. Investigations also included testing new materials which may one day be used to fabricate sturdier solar arrays. Hawley collected additional data for investigators from the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System (SWUIS), which he trained on the moon and Venus. Tognini and Coleman, meanwhile, monitored the operation of bioprocessing hardware collecting data from a number of biological and biomedical experiments. Tognini and Coleman reported that a series of hinges constructed from new lightweight materials unfurled successfully in a demonstration of technology expected to be applied to the development of solar panels for future spacecraft. Last night, at 8:16 p.m., controllers at the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Operations Control Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, reported a successful firing of the telescope's liquid-fuel thrusters, the first of five such firings which will ultimately place Chandra in its proper scientific orbit. News of the successful maneuver was relayed to the astronauts by flight controllers in Mission Control. All of Chandra's systems are functioning normally. Midway through the astronauts' workday, Tognini and Collins took time out to talk with the three cosmonauts aboard the Russian Space Station Mir in a ham radio hookup. Travelling some 7,700 miles apart, French astronaut Tognini offered greetings to his fellow countryman, Jean-Pierre Haignere, a European Space Agency astronaut who is in the homestretch of a six-month scientific research mission aboard Mir. Haignere, Commander Viktor Afanasayev and Flight Engineer Sergei Avdeyev are scheduled to land in their Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan on August 28. Collins reported to flight controllers late last night that a circuit breaker associated with an electrical bus on the Shuttle had popped open during a transient short seconds after launch. Although Columbia's climb to orbit was unaffected by the short circuit, the breakers will be analyzed postflight to determine the exact cause of the problem. Collins and Ashby also continued to provide investigators with data for a pair of experiments involving the study of exhaust vapors from the engines of space vehicles by firing reaction control system and orbital maneuvering system engines several times as Columbia passed over worldwide tracking network stations. The astronauts will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 8:31 a.m. Central time this morning and will be awakened at 4:31 this afternoon to begin their fourth day in space. Columbia is flying smoothly, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 182 statute miles.
- 1999 July 25 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 07.
The five astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia began their fourth flight day at 4:31 p.m. CDT, preparing to make additional celestial observations through the shuttle's windows and continue work with a variety of experiments. The day started off with a wake-up call sent up in honor of Pilot Jeff Ashby. It was a song called "Some Day Soon," written by Judy Collins and performed by Suzy Boguss. The first job for Ashby and Mission Specialists Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini was to set up an exercise treadmill and the Treadmill Vibration Information System (TVIS) which will measure vibrations and changes in microgravity levels caused by on-orbit workouts. These workouts are needed to maintain astronauts' cardiovascular fitness and muscle tone, which can suffer in the absence of gravity. Each crewmember was scheduled to take a turn on the treadmill before it is put away at the end of the day. Astronomer Hawley once again is scheduled to make observations of Jupiter, Venus and the Moon with the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System (SWUIS) as Commander Eileen Collins and Ashby put the shuttle in the proper orientation for his observations. Tognini and Mission Specialist Cady Coleman will check on the bioprocessing experiments, and harvest mouse-ear cress plants as part of the Plant Growth Investigations in Microgravity experiment. These genetically engineered plants are expected to yield clues to the sensitive mechanisms the plants use to monitor their environment and help scientists develop plants that respond better to the stresses of space flight. Collins and Ashby will fire the shuttle's engines so that the sophisticated sensors of the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite will be able to collect ultraviolet, infrared and visible light data on the firing. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in 1996. The commander and pilot also will practice landings on a laptop computer, simulation software and joystick combination called the Portable In-Flight Landing Operations Trainer (PILOT). Meanwhile, Mission Operations' Wayne Hale reported that engineers on the ground continue to evaluate the short in one of the shuttle's electrical systems, which occurred shortly after launch as well as the slightly reduced performance of the main engines. Neither problem poses any risk to the remainder of the mission, Hale said. Hale said the crew's discovery that a circuit breaker had popped during the climb to orbit provides reassurance that the problem has been isolated and will not affect any of the shuttle's other electrical systems used for reentry and landing. He also said that the right engine's reduced performance may have been due to a small hydrogen leak in tubes that help cool the nozzle. While it won't be confirmed until the shuttle returns to Earth, Hale said the evidence pointing to the leak includes a slightly higher than normal temperature in that engine, and launch photos showing a white streak that could be escaping hydrogen. At this point, Columbia is flying smoothly, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 182 statute miles.
- 1999 July 26 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 09.
Columbia's crew began packing up experiments today and preparing to return to Earth tomorrow with a touchdown planned on the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle runway in Florida at 10:20 p.m. CDT. Commander Eileen Collins and Pilot Jeff Ashby checked out the shuttle's cockpit instruments, displays and flight control systems this evening as part of the preparations for landing. They also test-fired Columbia's 38 small steering jets, finding everything in good shape and ready for the trip back to Earth. Also today, Collins and Ashby were joined by the rest of the crew -- Mission Specialists Steve Hawley, Cady Coleman and Michel Tognini -- for a press conference, fielding questions from reporters in Houston, Florida and Massachusetts. All activities are focused on a landing at KSC tomorrow, the shuttle's primary landing site, and flight controllers do not plan to consider any landing opportunities at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Tuesday. Two opportunities are available for a landing in Florida tomorrow, beginning on Columbia's 79th orbit of Earth with an engine firing at 9:19 p.m. CDT leading to a touchdown at 10:20 p.m. If Columbia lands on the first opportunity, its course toward Florida will take it above much of south central Texas and southern Louisiana and the shuttle may be easily visible to observers on the ground in those areas. The second opportunity is on the next orbit of Earth, starting with an engine firing at 10:54 p.m. leading to touchdown at 11:55 p.m. Columbia's course toward Florida on the second opportunity would take it above southern Texas and the Louisiana coast as it closes in on the Florida peninsula. The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 6:31 a.m. CDT and awaken at 2:31 p.m. Tuesday. Columbia is orbiting at an altitude of 182 statute miles with all of its systems in excellent condition.
- 1999 July 26 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 08.
Columbia's astronauts entered the homestretch of their mission this morning, conducting additional experiments in the Shuttle's middeck area as they began preparations for their scheduled return to Earth late Tuesday night. Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission Specialists Cady Coleman, Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini completed work with the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System, a telescopic instrument mounted on the side hatch window in the middeck which has collected ultraviolet data on the moon, Jupiter and Venus. Additional work was conducted with several experiments studying the reaction of biological samples and plant growth to the absence of gravity. Collins and Ashby fired Columbia's orbital maneuvering system engines and its reaction control system jets several times to provide more data for a pair of experiments examining how engine exhaust disturbs the molecules in the ionosphere in low Earth orbit. Ashby, Hawley and Tognini took turns on a special treadmill set up in the middeck which was equipped with accelerometers and sensors to measure how well the device can offset vibrations induced by crew exercise. Engineering data from the treadmill may be used by technicians in the development of exercise equipment for the International Space Station designed to minimize disturbances to delicate microgravity experiments. Tognini and Collins took time out to field questions from French Space Agency officials and students in Toulouse, France near the end of the crew's work day and Collins was joined by Ashby to discuss the progress of the mission with U.S. television networks and local television affiliates in upstate New York. With all of Columbia's systems functioning in excellent shape, NASA managers will be discussing landing opportunities and weather forecasts for Florida in advance of the astronauts' final full day in orbit. Current forecasts call for mostly clear skies and a possibility of thundershowers near the 3-mile long landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center for Columbia's planned touchdown tomorrow night at 10:20 p.m. Central time. A backup landing opportunity is available at the Florida spaceport 90 minutes later. The five crew members will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 7:31 a.m. Central time this morning and will be awakened at 3:31 p.m. to begin their fifth day in space. Collins and Ashby will check out Columbia's flight control surfaces and fire the ship's reaction control system jets tonight in the routine pre-landing checkouts conducted the day before every shuttle landing, insuring that the orbiter is in good shape to support the vehicle's high-speed return to Earth. Columbia is orbiting at an altitude of 182 statute miles with all of its systems in excellent condition.
- 1999 July 27 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 11.
Columbia's astronauts made final preparations Tuesday evening to come home after a successful five-day flight. Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission Specialists Cady Coleman, Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini were awakened at 2:31 p.m. CDT Tuesday to "A Little Traveling Music" by Barry Manilow, requested by Hawley's wife Eileen, and "The Air Force Song," played for Collins and Coleman. The first major task will be the closing of Columbia's cargo bay doors at about 6:40 this evening, followed by the astronauts climbing into their launch and entry suits shortly before 8 p.m. The entry flight control team led by Flight Director John Shannon will receive updated weather forecasts throughout the late afternoon and evening before a "go-no go" decision for the deorbit burn is issued around 9 p.m. There are two opportunities to land Tuesday night. The first begins with a deorbit burn on orbit 79 at 9:19 p.m. with a landing at 10:20 p.m. at Kennedy Space Center Florida. Columbia's orbital maneuvering engines will fire, slowing the 100-ton spacecraft by 250 feet per second, enough to drop it into the atmosphere halfway around the world. Columbia's unpowered glide through the atmosphere will heat a plasma layer around the heat-protecting tiles and creating a brilliant streak across the night sky for many ground observers. The Orbiter will cross Baja California and northwest Mexico, bisect Texas from west to east and pass over southern Louisiana on its way to Florida. Weather permitting, ground observers will be able to see the entry path about 100 miles on each side of the track. Columbia will cross Texas between 10 and 10:05 p.m. and a few minutes later will overfly Louisiana. Present plans call for a right turn to line up with runway 33, a southeast to northwest landing. The second opportunity is one orbit later with an engine firing at 10:54 p.m. CDT and a landing at KSC at 11:55 p.m. The groundtrack is similar to the previous orbit's entry path. Edwards Air Force Base will not be called up for support Tuesday night because of the good chances for landing at KSC. Flight controllers will be keeping an eye on the weather in Florida. The primary threat to ending Columbia's mission at the Shuttle Landing Facility there is the possibility of thunderstorms within 30 miles, most likely to the west. Winds and cloud cover were not a concern leading up to the engine firing. If Columbia lands at Kennedy Space Center it will be the 12th night landing in the Shuttle program's history. Five of those have been at Edwards Air Force Base in California and the rest have been at KSC. There have been 18 consecutive landings at KSC and 25 of the last 26 have been there. The last Edwards landing was in March 1996 with the STS-76 mission. Additional opportunities for landing will be available on Wednesday at both landing sites if weather prevents Columbia from coming home tonight. If Columbia lands this evening, the astronauts are due back at Ellington Field in Houston around mid-morning on Wednesday. An exact time for crew arrival will be firmed up after landing. Columbia is orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 179 statute miles with all systems operating normally.
- 1999 July 27 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 10.
Columbia's astronauts tested their ship's systems and packed up their gear, ready for a nighttime homecoming late tonight at the Kennedy Space Center to wrap up their five-day mission. With the Chandra X-Ray Observatory undergoing what so far has been a flawless checkout on orbit for future scientific investigations, Commander Eileen Collins and Pilot Jeff Ashby successfully exercised Columbia's aerosurfaces and fired all of its steering jets late Monday night, confirming that the Shuttle is ready to support its high speed return to Earth. With all systems operating in good fashion, Mission Specialists Cady Coleman, Steve Hawley and Michel Tognini stowed all of their hardware and deactivated secondary experiments in preparation for tonight's landing opportunities at the Florida spaceport. The astronauts have two chances to land tonight, the first calling for a firing of the orbital maneuvering system engines in a braking maneuver at 9:19 p.m. Central time tonight. That will slow Columbia down by 250 feet per second, allowing it to drop out of orbit for its hour-long entry back to Earth. If all goes as planned, landing will occur on Runway 3-3 at the Kennedy Space Center at 10:20 p.m. Central Daylight time, after Collins executes an overhead right hand turn to align Columbia with the southeast to northwest approach to the 3-mile long landing strip. This will be the 12th night landing in Shuttle program history. If weather somehow prevents a landing on the first opportunity, a backup opportunity exists 90 minutes later. The alternate landing site at California's Edwards Air Force Base will not be called up for landing support tonight. Additional opportunities for landing will be available on Wednesday at both landing sites if weather prevents Columbia from coming home tonight. The forecast, however, looks very favorable, with only a few clouds predicted near the Shuttle Landing Facility and a slight chance of a thundershower offshore at the time of touchdown. The astronauts began an eight-hour sleep period at 6:31 a.m. Central time this morning and will be awakened at 2:31 this afternoon to begin deorbit preparations. The first major task will be the closing of Columbia's cargo bay doors at about 6:40 this evening, followed by the astronauts climbing into their launch and entry suits shortly before 8 p.m. Entry Flight Director John Shannon and his team of flight controllers will receive updated weather forecasts throughout the late afternoon and evening before a "go-no go" decision for the deorbit burn is issued around 9 p.m. Assuming clear weather, the orbiter should be visible as it streaks across the night sky over Texas, Lousiana, and then Florida. In Houston, Columbia should appear in the northern sky at about 10:05 p.m. CDT before the 10:20 landing. If Columbia lands this evening, the astronauts are due back at Ellington Field in Houston around mid-morning on Wednesday. An exact time for crew arrival will be firmed up after landing. Columbia is orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 179 statute miles with all systems operating normally.
- 1999 July 27 - STS-93 Mission Status Report # 12.
Columbia's astronauts glided to a smooth landing tonight at the Kennedy Space Center, wrapping up their five-day mission to deploy the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Commander Eileen Collins flew Columbia to a textbook touchdown at 10:20 p.m. Central time on Runway 3-3 at the Cape's Shuttle's Landing Facility, swooping out of darkness to complete a mission spanning almost 1.8 million miles. Pilot Jeff Ashby, Flight Engineer Steve Hawley and Mission Specialist Cady Coleman joined Collins on the flight deck for entry and landing. Mission Specialist Michel Tognini of the French Space Agency was seated alone down in the middeck. It was the 19th consecutive Shuttle landing at the Florida spaceport and the 12th night landing in Shuttle program history. A few minutes earlier, Columbia provided a light show for residents in Houston as it sped overhead about 15 minutes before landing, visible in the nighttime skies as an orange streak headed for Florida. Columbia was at an altitude of about 200,000 feet at the time, travelling about 15 times the speed of sound. Left behind in orbit is the Chandra Observatory, which was released from Columbia's cargo bay last Friday morning. Telescope controllers at the Chandra Operations Control Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts say the Observatory is in excellent shape in the first week of its checkout for scientific operations. The astronauts will be reunited with their families overnight Wednesday before holding a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center to discuss their flight. That news conference is scheduled at about 4:30 a.m. Central time and will be broadcast on NASA Television just prior to the astronauts' departure from KSC. The crew plans to return to Ellington Field near the Johnson Space Center Wednesday morning at about 10:15 a.m. Central time, where the five astronauts are expected to be greeted by Vice-President Gore, JSC Director George W. S. Abbey and center employees. The crew return, which will occur at Hangar 276 at Ellington, will be broadcast live on NASA TV. It is open to the public.
- 1999 December 19 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #01.
In the final launch attempt available this year, Discovery and its seven astronauts blasted off tonight on the last human space flight of the 20th century to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope. Under clear and starry skies at the Kennedy Space Center, Discovery lifted off on time at 6:50 p.m. Central time, lighting up the Central Florida coastline, to send Commander Curt Brown, Pilot Scott Kelly, and Mission Specialists Steve Smith, Jean-Francois Clervoy, John Grunsfeld, Mike Foale and Claude Nicollier on a two-day chase to catch up to and retrieve the 12 and a half ton telescope. Hubble was sailing over Eastern Africa at the time of launch. Eight and a half minutes after the third and final shuttle launch of the year, Discovery was in orbit as its crew members began to configure shuttle systems for the planned 8-day mission. One rendezvous burn of the reaction control system jets is planned before the crew goes to sleep early Monday to fine tune Discovery's path to catch up to Hubble. Technically, Hubble has been in hibernation since the loss of a fourth gyroscope on November 13 designed to enable the telescope to point precisely at distant astronomical targets for scientific observations. Hubble is in what is known as "safe mode", a state of dormancy in which the telescope aims itself constantly at the sun to provide electrical power to its systems. Hubble is scheduled to be captured by Discovery's robot arm around 6:40 p.m. Central time Tuesday. Once the crew retrieves Hubble, it will be parked at the rear of Discovery's cargo bay so that two teams of space-walking astronauts can perform repairs and upgrades to its systems during three nights of space walks. The most vital of the space walks will occur on Wednesday night, when Smith and Grunsfeld replace all six of Hubble's gyroscopes and install devices to improve voltage regulation to the telescope's systems. Only three space walks are planned because the mission was shortened. Smith and Grunsfeld will conduct the first and third space walks, while the second will be conducted by Foale and Nicollier. If all goes as planned, Hubble will be released back into orbit on Christmas Day around 5 p.m. Central time, with landing planned on Dec. 27 at 4:24 p.m.. Central time at the Kennedy Space Center. The astronauts are scheduled to begin an eight-hour sleep period at 1:50 a.m. Central time Monday and will be awakened at 9:50 a.m. Central time to begin their first full day in orbit. Discovery is orbiting the Earth at an altitude of about 300 nautical miles, completing one orbit of the Earth every 90 minutes.
- 1999 December 20 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #03.
The seven members of the STS-103 crew of Discovery completed a day of preparation Monday for a Tuesday capture of the Hubble Space Telescope. During three days of space walks, Hubble's capability to conduct astronomical observations will be restored and some of its equipment upgraded. Discovery's robotic arm and the four space suits the astronauts will use on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday space walks, checked out with no major problems. As the crew prepared for its sleep period, Discovery was 1,100 statute miles behind Hubble, closing at a rate of 150 statute miles per orbit. Discovery's orbit had been adjusted by firing the two Orbital Maneuvering System engines, mounted in pods on either side of the spacecraft's vertical tail fin. That burn added 79 feet per second to the orbiter's speed. A subsequent firing of Discovery's smaller Reaction Control System jets further refined the orbit by changing Discovery's speed by about eight feet per second. The pressure in Discovery's cabin was lowered to 10.2 psi at about 1 p.m. Monday. This is part of the procedure to reduce the amount of nitrogen in the blood of space-walking astronauts. Later they will breathe pure oxygen. Those steps are designed to eliminate the possibility of nitrogen bubbles forming in their blood during spacewalks and causing an attack of the "bends," a condition that can affect deep-sea divers brought to the surface too quickly. A little after 8:30 p.m. CST, four members of the crew, Commander Curt Brown, Pilot Scott Kelly, and Mission Specialists Jean-Francois Clervoy and Mike Foale, participated in an on-orbit interview with three organizations - CBS News, the Hal Uplinger Millennium TV Network and ABS-PBS Millennium Broadcast. On Tuesday Discovery will approach the space telescope with a series of burns to match its orbit. The rendezvous' terminal initiation burn is to occur at about 4:30 p.m. when Discovery is about eight miles behind Hubble. Brown and Kelly will maneuver the orbiter to a point directly beneath Hubble, then move upward toward it. Clervoy, using the orbiter's robotic arm, will grapple Hubble about 6:40 p.m. and place it on the Flight Service System in the rear of Discovery's cargo bay. There, it can be rotated and tilted to enable space-walking astronauts to better access its equipment bays. Discovery is in an orbit with a high point of 367 statute miles and a low point of 352 miles. All systems are in excellent condition.
- 1999 December 20 - STS-103. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission SM-3A, delayed repeatedly by technical problems with the shuttle fleet after the near-disastrous previous launch. Finally launched after the last possible day to avoid Y2K computer problems; one spacewalk was cancelled so that the shuttle could return by December 28. Hubble was in a 591 km x 610 km x 28.5 deg orbit at launch. After separation of the external tank ET-101 the Orbiter was in a 56 km x 587 km x 28.5 deg transfer orbit. The OMS 2 burn at 0134 UTC raised the orbit to 313 km x 582 km. The payload bay contained:
- Bay 1-2: External airlock/ODS
- Bay 7-8: ORU Carrier (Spacelab pallet). Carried Hubble replacement spares arranged as follows: COPE protective enclosure with three RSU gyros, a new solid state recorder, and an S-band transmitter; LOPE enclosure with an HST-486 computer and voltage improvement kit; ASIPE enclosure with a spare HST-486 and spare RSU; FSIPE enclosure with a replacement FGS-2 fine guidance sensor; and NPE enclosure with New Outer Blanket Layer insulation.
- Bay 11: Flight Servicing System (FSS). Contained the BAPS (Berthing and Positioning System) used to dock with the aft end of the Hubble Space Telescope.
- Bay 8: APC carrier with foot restraint
- Bay 12: APC carrier with HST foot retstraint
Hubble was grabbed by the shuttle's robot arm at 0034 UTC on December 22. Following completion of repairs HST was released on December 25 at 2303 UTC. The deorbit burn at 2248 UTC on Dec 27 placed the orbiter in a 50 km x 616 km descent orbit. Discovery landed on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center at 0001 UTC on December 28.
- 1999 December 20 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #02.
Trailing the Hubble Space Telescope by about 3,700 nautical miles and closing, the seven Discovery astronauts were awakened at 9:50 a.m. CST today to the sounds of Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Taking Care of Business." The wake-up call from Mission Control began the crew's first full day in orbit. Discovery is closing on the telescope at a rate of about 340 nautical miles with each hour and a half long orbit of Earth. Today will be a day of preparation for the crew, gearing up for the rendezvous and capture of HST planned for Tuesday and the three maintenance spacewalks that will follow later in the week. At about 1 p.m., European Space Agency astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy will power up Discovery's robotic arm to check its operation. Clervoy will survey Discovery's cargo bay using television cameras on the arm, checking the condition of the equipment planned for installation on the telescope and the cradle that will hold HST during the spacewalks. While Clervoy operates the arm, Payload Commander Steve Smith and Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld will power up the payload bay HST support equipment. Later, around 6 p.m., Commander Curt Brown and Pilot Scott Kelly will check out the laptop computers, navigation aids and flight controls in Discovery's cockpit that will be used for tomorrow's encounter with HST. Meanwhile, on Discovery's middeck, Grunsfeld, along with European astronaut Claude Nicollier, will begin a check of the four spacesuits onboard. Early in the afternoon, about 1 p.m., the crew will lower the cabin pressure aboard Discovery as part of the spacewalk preparations. This reduces the amount of time the spacewalkers must breathe oxygen as part of a standard protocol to purge nitrogen from the body prior to beginning a spacewalk. At 8:35 p.m. CST, Brown, Smith, Clervoy and Mike Foale will take a break from their work to talk with CBS news and other television networks about their mission. As some of their final activities today, the crew will fire Discovery's large orbital maneuvering system engines at 10:32 p.m. to slow the rate at which the Shuttle is closing on HST. A second, smaller engine firing will follow at 11:27 p.m. to further fine tune the Shuttle's approach toward Hubble. Capture of the telescope remains scheduled for 6:41 p.m. Tuesday. Discovery is in excellent condition, orbiting Earth every 95 minutes, 27 seconds. The high point of Discovery's orbit is 363 statute miles and the low point is 298 statute miles.
- 1999 December 21 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #04.
Discovery is on track for its rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope this afternoon, culminating in the planned capture of the 12.5-ton observatory at 6:41 p.m. CST. In recognition of today's activities, the seven astronauts aboard Discovery were awakened at 9:20 a.m. today to the song "Rendezvous" by Bruce Springsteen. While the crew slept, the Shuttle continued to close in on the Hubble Space Telescope at a rate of about 125 statute miles with each 90 minute long orbit of Earth. At the time the crew woke this morning, Discovery trailed the telescope by about 330 statute miles. The crew will fire the Shuttle's thrusters at 12:38 p.m. today to slightly raise Discovery's orbit and slow the closing rate on Hubble. Another engine firing will be conducted about 48 minutes later to further adjust the closing rate and aim Discovery to reach a point eight nautical miles behind the telescope -- the starting point for the final phase of the rendezvous -- about three hours later. Just before Discovery reaches that point, European astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy will power up the robotic arm and lift it to a position just above its latches along the left edge of the Shuttle cargo bay. At 4:28 p.m., Discovery will reach the starting point and fire its thrusters again to begin the final phase of rendezvous, putting the Shuttle on a course to directly intercept the telescope on the next orbit of Earth. As Discovery closes the final distance to Hubble, four small course correction engine firings will fine-tune the approach and Clervoy will raise the arm high above the payload bay, poised to latch onto the Hubble's grapple fixture. When Discovery reaches a point about half a mile away and directly beneath the telescope, Commander Curt Brown will take over manual control of the Shuttle. Brown, assisted by Pilot Scott Kelly, will gently maneuver the 110-ton Shuttle to within 35 feet of the orbiting observatory to allow Clervoy to capture it with the arm. After the arm has latched onto the telescope, Clervoy will lower it into a cradle in the aft cargo bay. Using controls in the aft cockpit of Discovery, Payload Commander Steve Smith will then latch the telescope in place, where it will remain for the next four days. Hubble is planned to be latched into the bay at about 7 p.m. Once the telescope has been secured in the payload bay, Clervoy will release the arm and use it to perform a television survey of the Hubble's exterior. The first of three planned Hubble maintenance spacewalks is planned to begin at 1:40 p.m. Wednesday.
- 1999 December 21 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #05.
After a 30-orbit chase, Discovery astronauts completed a successful rendezvous Tuesday evening with the Hubble Space Telescope, grappling it with the robotic arm and latching it into the orbiter's cargo bay. Controllers at Goddard Space Flight Center had placed the space telescope in an attitude with its closed aperture pointed toward Earth. Commander Curt Brown guided Discovery through an approach from below and fly-around. Then, Mission Specialist Jean-Francois Clervoy reached out with the shuttle's robotic arm to grip a grapple fixture on Hubble. The grapple was made at 6:34 p.m. Central time, one day, 23 hours and 44 minutes after Discovery's launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Clervoy used the arm to rotate the space telescope and bring its base into the cargo bay. Hubble, gleaming silver in its Mylar insulation flanked by golden-colored solar arrays, was firmly attached to the Flight Support System in Discovery's cargo by a little after 7:30 p.m. Hubble is as tall as a four-story building. With a maximum diameter of 14 feet, it is about the size of a railroad tank car. The Flight Support System is a U-shaped device with a circular platform between the U's arms now supporting the space telescope. The system provides power from Discovery to the telescope and can rotate and tilt it to facilitate access to its various compartments by space-walking astronauts. An initial, carefully choreographed survey using a camera at the end of the robotic arm was made. Camera surveys of Hubble's condition will continue during the crew's sleep period, scheduled to begin about 12:50 a.m. Wednesday. The first of three planned space walks to repair and upgrade Hubble equipment is scheduled to begin at 1:40 p.m. Wednesday, though astronauts may get an early start. If they can get ahead of schedule, they may be able to perform some tasks that had been scheduled for the cancelled fourth spacewalk. On Wednesday, Mission Specialist and Payload Commander Steve Smith and Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld will first replace the telescope's three Rate Sensor Units. Each contains two gyroscopes. The second major task is installation of six Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits between Hubble's solar panels and its six 10-year-old batteries. The cell telephone-sized kits are designed to prevent any overheating or overcharging of those batteries. Discovery's systems continue to function well as the astronauts wind up final preparations for Wednesday's space walks and prepare for sleep. The spacecraft was in an orbit with a high point of 380 statute miles and a low point of 355 miles.
- 1999 December 22 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #06.
With the Hubble Space Telescope securely latched in the payload bay, the astronauts board Discovery today will turn their attention to the primary objective of their flight -- restoring the capability of the 12.5-ton telescope to observe the universe. Astronauts Steve Smith and John Grunsfeld are scheduled to begin the first of three planned maintenance spacewalks today at about 1:40 p.m. The crew was awakened this morning to the song "Hucklebuck" performed by Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi-Rollers, a tune that the spacewalkers heard many times while training hundreds of hours for the mission in the 6.5-million gallon water tank at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Although not scheduled to begin until 1:40 p.m., Smith and Grunsfeld could begin the planned six-hour spacewalk earlier if they complete preparations ahead of schedule. Once outside Discovery's cabin, the first task they will perform will be to replace the telescope's three Rate Sensor Units, each of which contains two gyroscopes. Of the six gyroscopes currently installed in Hubble, four have failed. At least three operable gyroscopes are needed to point the telescope with the accuracy required to track its astronomical targets.
After the rate sensor units have been installed, the two spacewalkers will then open valves on the telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer to purge nitrogen coolant from that instrument in preparation for its servicing on the next Shuttle maintenance mission. Next, they will install six Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits for the Hubble's batteries that will increase the batteries' efficiency and reduce a potential for them to overcharge and overheat. If those tasks are completed and the spacewalkers have extra time, they may perform some additional small jobs such as installing handrail covers and inspecting brackets.
While Smith and Grunsfeld are outside, inside the cabin European astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy will control Discovery's robotic arm, maneuvering the spacewalkers into position to work on the telescope. Discovery's other spacewalking team, astronaut Mike Foale and European astronaut Claude Nicollier, also will assist from inside the cabin. Foale and Nicollier are scheduled to perform the mission's second spacewalk tomorrow. Smith and Grunsfeld are planned to again venture outside on Friday for the flight's third and final spacewalk. Discovery remains in near-perfect condition with no mechanical problems of concern to flight controllers, as has been the case since its launch on Sunday. It is orbiting at an altitude of 380 by 365 statute miles.
- 1999 December 22 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #07.
Discovery astronauts completed the two highest priority tasks of their Hubble Space Telescope servicing Wednesday with a space walk that was the second longest in history. Astronauts Steve Smith and John Grunsfeld installed six new gyroscopes and six Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits in the telescope during their 8 hour, 15 minute spacewalk. Working deliberately, Smith and Grunsfeld replaced three Rate Sensor Units, each containing two gyroscopes. Four of Hubble's gyroscopes had failed, making the telescope unable to point itself precisely enough to do science since Nov. 13. At least three operable gyroscopes are needed to point the telescope with the accuracy required to track its astronomical targets. The spacewalkers also installed Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits on wiring from Hubble's solar arrays to each of its six batteries. The kits are designed to improve control of the charging of the space telescope's 10-year-old batteries. With Hubble latched upright in the payload bay, Smith and Grunsfeld completed all major tasks scheduled for the first of three spacewalks on three consecutive days. A few minor objectives, including applying lubricant to the door of one of the telescope's bays and taking close-up photos of the Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits, were left undone. Flight and telescope controllers decided to cancel the photography job and schedule the 10-minute lubrication job for Thursday's space walk. The duration of the spacewalk was second only to the 8 hour, 29 minute space walk from Endeavour on STS-49 in May 1992. A few minor problems helped account for the length of the space walk. One of the old gyroscope-containing Rate Sensor Units was a tight fit in the box designed to protect it on its return to Earth, though eventually it was placed inside and the lid closed. Another involved opening valves and removing caps on the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer, in preparation for restoring it to operation during the next Hubble Servicing mission. That task too eventually was completed. All in all flight and telescope controllers were delighted with the accomplishments of the day. Major tasks on Thursday's space walk by Michael Foale and Claude Nicollier include replacement of Hubble's outmoded DF-224 computer with a more modern unit 20 times faster and with six times the memory. They also will replace one of Hubble's three fine guidance sensors, used to precisely point the telescope and gather scientific data. The astronauts also may perform "get-ahead tasks," some first scheduled for a fourth space walk. That space walk was cancelled because of delays in Discovery's launch. Discovery remains in excellent condition, in an orbit with a high point of 380 statute miles and a low point of 369 miles.
- 1999 December 23 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #09.
The Hubble Space Telescope received a new advanced computer Thursday from space-walking Discovery astronauts Mike Foale and Claude Nicollier. Their 8-hour, 10-minute space walk, the third longest in history, also saw replacement of a 550-pound fine guidance sensor. Flight controllers said all major activities of the space walk, the second of three on consecutive days of Discovery's space telescope repair and improvement mission, had been accomplished. Controllers reported that power was reaching both of the new pieces of equipment. "The brains of Hubble have been replaced," said Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld, who worked Thursday in Discovery's cabin with the space-walking crew members outside. About 30 minutes later Hubble began thinking with those new brains. At an evening mission status briefing, John Campbell, Hubble Space Telescope program manager, said the functional checkout of the new computer showed it was functioning well. Checkout of the Fine Guidance Sensor, is continuing. The length of Thursday's space walk made it the third longest in history, behind only the 8-hour, 15-minute effort on Wednesday by Payload Commander Steve Smith and Grunsfeld and an 8-hour, 29-minute space walk by three Endeavor astronauts on STS-49 on its Intelsat rescue mission in May 1992. Replacement of one of Hubble's two S-band transmitters is a highlight of Friday's space walk by Smith and Grunsfeld. The transmitter to be replaced had failed. The second transmitter was able to carry the load alone, so no science was lost. The transmitters are considered very reliable, and unlike most of the equipment aboard Hubble, they were not designed to be changed out in orbit. Special tools were developed to enable astronauts to do the job more easily. Installation of a Solid State Recorder to replace a less reliable and less capable 10-year-old recorder is the second major item on the schedule. Also on the timeline of the space walk, scheduled to begin at 1:50 p.m. CST, is installation of new insulation on equipment bay doors. The spacewalk could, like its two predecessors on STS-103, begin earlier if the crew completes preparations early. Flight controllers are anxious to end this third space walk at 8 p.m. as scheduled. Discovery remains is in excellent condition, in an orbit with a high point of 380 statute miles and a low point of 364 miles.
- 1999 December 23 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #08.
Discovery's seven-member crew began work early today, preparing for a busy day on orbit, including a second spacewalk and a final check of hardware installed on the Hubble Space Telescope during yesterday's spacewalk. The primary goal of today's spacewalk, to be conducted by Mike Foale and European Space Agency astronaut Claude Nicollier, is to install a new computer to replace the one currently in use by Hubble. The new computer is 20 times faster and has six times the memory of the outdated unit being replaced. Nicollier and Foale also will change out one of Hubble's three Fine Guidance Sensors that are used to precisely point the telescope as it conducts scientific observations. The unit being installed today is a refurbished unit that was removed and returned to Earth by the STS-82 crew during its servicing of the telescope in February 1997. If time permits, the space walkers also may perform some optional "get ahead" tasks. Foale has conducted two previous spacewalks, during the STS-63 mission in February 1995 and again in September 1997 as he and Mir Space Station Commander Anatoly Solovyev conducted a six-hour survey of the Mir. This is Nicollier's first spacewalk. Today's spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 1:50 p.m., but could begin earlier if the crew members complete their preparations ahead of schedule. During the spacewalk, Foale can be recognized by the broken red stripes on the legs of his EVA suit, and Nicollier by the diagonally broken red stripes on his suit. Discovery's astronauts also supported a functional test of the voltage temperature improvement kits - referred to as VIKs - installed by Steve Smith and John Grunsfeld during their spacewalk yesterday. To ensure the checkout is complete prior to the start of today's scheduled EVA, the astronauts began the work shortly after crew wake-up. During the 90-minute long checkout, investigators will monitor the performance of the voltage kits as the telescope's batteries are charged. This morning's wake-up music honored the two space-walking astronauts, Nicollier and Foale. Traditional Swiss music was played for Nicollier and the song "Only When I Sleep" by The Corrs was played for Foale. Discovery remains in excellent condition, in an orbit with a high point of 380 statute miles and a low point of 369 miles.
- 1999 December 24 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #10.
The Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled to receive its final upgrades today as astronauts Steve Smith and John Grunsfeld perform the last of three planned space walks to refurbish the orbiting observatory. Today's planned 7 ½ hour-long space walk will see Smith and Grunsfeld install a transmitter that relays Hubble's scientific data from the telescope to the ground and an upgraded digital recorder replacing an older mechanical version. The transmitter to be installed today replaces one that failed in 1998. Since that time, the second on-board transmitter has successfully carried the load without any disruption to Hubble operations. The transmitters are considered very reliable, and unlike most of the equipment aboard Hubble, were not designed to be changed out in orbit. Special tools were developed to enable astronauts to do the job more easily. The digital Solid State Recorder being installed on the telescope will replace an older mechanical model and provide more than 10 times the storage capacity. Smith and Grunsfeld also will apply some new insulation on equipment bay doors to minimize any degradation of the telescope's protective thermal coverings. The space walk currently is scheduled to being at 1:20 p.m. Central Time and is expected to last about 7 ½ hours. Mission Control awakened the crew at 8:50 a.m. today to the sounds of Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" played for Smith and the children's song "Skinnamarink" by Kimbo for Grunsfeld. Discovery remains in excellent condition, in an orbit with a high point of 380 statute miles and a low point of 364 miles.
- 1999 December 24 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #11.
Discovery astronauts completed their third and final space walk Friday evening, replacing a failed radio transmitter and installing a new solid state recorder. After the successful completion of those tasks, Lead Flight Director Linda Ham announced Friday evening that the STS-103 mission had met all criteria for complete success. Discovery astronauts are scheduled to release Hubble a little before 5 p.m. CST on Christmas Day. Astronauts Steve Smith and John Grunsfeld on Friday installed a transmitter that sends scientific data from Hubble to the ground. The transmitter replaced one that failed in 1998. A second transmitter had successfully carried the load without any disruption to Hubble scientific operations. Since the transmitters are considered very reliable, they were not designed to be replaced in orbit and special tools were developed to make the job easier. Smith and Grunsfeld also installed a solid state digital recorder, replacing an older mechanical reel-to-reel recorder version. The digital Solid State Recorder provides more than 10 times the storage capacity of the old unit. They also applied new insulation on two equipment bay doors. Both the transmitter and the recorder checked out normally on early tests by telescope controllers. Two previous space walks on Wednesday and Thursday had completed the highest priority tasks of the mission. Those tasks included installation of six new gyroscopes and six Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits, giving Hubble a new computer 20 times faster and with six times the memory of the old computer, and replacement of one of Hubble's three Fine Guidance Sensors. Friday's space walk lasted 8 hours and 8 minutes, ending at 9:25 p.m., making it the fourth longest in history. Part of the reason for the length of the space walk was difficulty in hooking Grunsfeld's suit up to orbiter power after he had returned to Discovery's airlock. Friday's space walk brings the total time of STS-103 extravehicular activity to 24 hours, 33 minutes. This mission's three space walks bring the total amount of time spent servicing Hubble to 93 hours, 13 minutes. Space Shuttle Program space walks now total 317 hours, 3 minutes. And Steve Smith now is the astronaut with the second longest combined space walk time, with 35 hours, 33 minutes behind only Jerry Ross, with 44 hours, 11 minutes. Discovery is in an orbit with a high point of 380 miles and a low point of 363 miles. All of the orbiter's systems continued to function normally.
- 1999 December 25 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #13.
Discovery's astronauts delivered a Christmas present to the world today, putting the Hubble Space Telescope back in service after 24 hours and 33 minutes of repairs and upgrades that make the orbital observatory more capable than ever. European Space Agency Astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy used the shuttle's robot arm to gently release the telescope at 5:03 p.m. CST, then placed the arm into an upright salute as Commander Curt Brown fired Discovery's steering jets to begin separating from the telescope. The telescope's re-deployment took place at an altitude of 370 statute miles as the two spacecraft flew over the South Pacific's Coral Sea northeast of Australia, its aperture door opened to the heavens before the release. By 5:30 p.m. CST, controllers at the Space Telescope Operations Control Center in Maryland were reporting that the telescope was in normal operating mode. Controllers will perform two weeks of testing before resuming observations with the telescope. "The HST is now orbiting freely once again and is in fantastic shape," Hubble Space Telescope Program Manager John Campbell said after the release. "The spacecraft is being guided by its new gyros, under the control of its brand new computer. The Hubble team is very grateful to the Discovery crew, to the launch and flight teams and to all those who made this mission so successful. We especially thank the families of the entire STS-103 team, who made so many personal sacrifices at this holiday season, enabling the Hubble Space Telescope to resume its voyage of discovery." At 5:39 p.m. CST, Brown executed a second steering jet burn, lowering Discovery's orbit slightly, so that it would begin orbiting faster than the telescope and move away at just under 6 statute miles per orbit. Afterward, each of the seven astronauts on board called down holiday wishes from space in several languages. "The familiar Christmas story reminds us that for millennia, people of many faiths and cultures have looked to the skies and studied the stars and planets in their search for a deeper understanding of life and for greater wisdom," radioed Brown. "We, the Discovery crew and this mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, are very proud to be part of this ongoing search beyond ourselves. We hope and trust that the lessons the universe has to teach us will speak to the yearning that we know is in human hearts everywhere -- the yearning for peace on Earth, good will among all the human family. As we stand at the threshold of a new millennium, we send you all our greetings." Over the course of three space walks, Astronauts Steve Smith, John Grunsfeld, Mike Foale and Claude Nicollier installed six new gyroscopes, six Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits, a new more efficient computer, and a refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor. Functional checks and tests of the hardware indicate that the new equipment is working well. The space-walking team, including arm operator Clervoy, also took a break from their duties to discuss the progress of the mission so far in a series of interviews with CNN, the Associated Press and the Fox News Network. The crew is scheduled to go to bed just before midnight Central time and wake up at 7:50 a.m. Sunday to begin a day of preparations for Monday's landing. Discovery is in a 363 by 380 statute mile orbit with all systems on board performing well.
- 1999 December 25 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #12.
Christmas Day onboard the Shuttle Discovery began with seasons greetings for Commander Curt Brown, as the crew awoke to Bing Crosby's "I'll Be Home for Christmas." "Merry Christmas to all of you down there," replied Brown. "And Hubble will be home for Christmas 'cause today we're going to set her free." Discovery's astronauts will be doing the gift-giving this afternoon as they return the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit, allowing it to continue its astronomical observations. About 1:45 p.m. CST, European Space Agency astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy will use Discovery's robot arm to firmly grasp the telescope. After a series of commands to disconnect from external power and confirm Hubble is ready for release, Clervoy will gently lift it out of the support structure in Discovery's payload bay where it has rested since he first plucked it from orbit on December 21. The telescope's aperture door will be commanded open and at 4:50 p.m., Clervoy will release the upgraded telescope. Hubble's capabilities were enhanced over the course of three spacewalks, lasting a combined total of 24 hours, 33 minutes. Spacewalking astronauts Steve Smith, John Grunsfeld, Mike Foale and Claude Nicollier installed six new gyroscopes, six Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits, a new more efficient computer, and a refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor. Functional checks and tests of the hardware indicate that the new equipment is working properly and will further enhance the Hubble's scientific capabilities. This afternoon, the spacewalking team, including arm operator Clervoy, will take a break from their duties to discuss the progress of the mission so far in a series of interviews with CNN, the Associated Press and the Fox News Network. That interview is scheduled for 7:12 p.m. today. Discovery is in an orbit with a high point of 380 miles and a low point of 363 miles with all systems on board performing well.
- 1999 December 26 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #14.
With their primary mission objectives successfully completed, Discovery's astronauts today begin preparing their spacecraft for its scheduled return to Earth Monday, checking out the flight control system and reaction control jets that support re-entry. The seven astronauts were awakened at 7:50 a.m. to the song "We're So Good Together" by Reba McEntyre, played for Pilot Scott Kelly at the request of his wife. This afternoon, Commander Curt Brown and Kelly will check out Discovery's flight control systems and surfaces to support Monday's planned return to the Kennedy Space Center. Later in the day, the astronauts will begin stowing the equipment they've used during the past week on orbit and start buttoning up Discovery's on-orbit systems. The Ku-band antenna, which provides most of the capacity for data and television relay, will be stowed around 8:45 p.m. today. As the STS-103 mission winds down, the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope slowly moves through its checkout sequence prior to resuming science operations. Discovery's four space-walking astronauts spent 24 hours and 33 minutes upgrading and refurbishing the orbiting observatory, making it more capable than ever to renew its observations of the universe. Hubble was released from the end of Discovery's robot arm at 5:03 p.m. Christmas Day. Less than half an hour later, controllers at the Space Telescope Operations Control Center in Maryland reported that the telescope was in normal operating mode. Controllers will perform two weeks of testing before observations resume. At 8 a.m. today, Hubble was approximately 45 miles away from Discovery and separating at the rate of about five miles per 90-minute orbit. Also on tap at 10:50 a.m. today is the crew in-flight press conference with media at NASA Centers in the U.S. and reporters at European Space Agency sites in Geneva and Paris.
- 1999 December 26 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #15.
Following the successful deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope yesterday, the seven man crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery turned its attention today to preparing for the return to Kennedy Space Center late tomorrow afternoon. STS-103 Commander Curt Brown, along with Pilot Scott Kelly, first performed checks of the Flight Control System by activating one of the three Auxiliary Power Units aboard Discovery to allow them to test the various aerosurfaces that will be used to steer the Shuttle once it has re-entered the atmosphere. The crew then did a check of the Reaction Control System, the maneuvering jets that steer Discovery while the Shuttle is in space. Both the FCS and RCS checkouts were without issue, with all systems ready to support Discovery's return to Earth. The weather forecast for the two available landing sites is very good for both a nominal end of mission as well as the two extension days that are planned into every Shuttle flight. The prediction for KSC on Monday is for only a few clouds at the upper levels and very good visibility. The only possible concern is crosswinds that are predicted to be near the peak of what is allowed at the three-mile-long Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC. Weather at the alternate landing site at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California also is predicted to be very good on Monday, with only a few high clouds and light winds. The extended forecast for both landing sites on Tuesday and Wednesday shows continued favorable weather. At tonight's mission status briefing, Entry Flight Director Wayne Hale said that given the very good forecast at both landing sites for the next three days, the Shuttle team's current plan for Monday afternoon would be to try for the first two landing opportunities at KSC. If Discovery cannot land on one of those opportunities and the weather forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday remains the same, Discovery and her crew would be kept in orbit one additional day to try and allow a KSC landing on Tuesday. Shuttle managers would like to land at KSC if possible in order to avoid the work associated with transporting an orbiter from California back to Florida. The first opportunity to land at KSC on Monday takes place on orbit 118 with a deorbit burn at 3:06 p.m. CST and a landing at KSC at 4:18 p.m. The second opportunity on orbit 119 would have a deorbit burn taking place at 4:49 p.m. and a landing at KSC at 6:00 p.m. CST. A third and final opportunity for a KSC landing is available on orbit 120 if needed. The third opportunity has a deorbit burn at 6:32 p.m. and landing at 7:43 p.m. CST. Should the extended weather forecast change, there are landing opportunities at the Edwards site on the same three orbits, along with an additional opportunity on orbit 121. The STS-103 crew will begin a planned eight-hour sleep period at 11:20 p.m. this evening. A wake-up call from Mission Control to begin what should be their final day in space for this flight will come at 7:20 a.m. on Monday.
- 1999 December 27 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #16.
With promising weather forecast for the Kennedy Space Center, preparations are under way to bring the seven-member crew of Discovery home following a successful mission to refurbish and repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The crew's day began with a wake-up call from Mission Control, "The Cup of Life," sung by Ricky Martin. The music was the official song of France '98 World Cup Soccer and was played for Mission Specialist #2, Jean-Francois Clervoy of the European Space Agency at the request of his son. Entry Flight Director Wayne Hale and his team of flight controllers have three attempts to bring Discovery home to Florida today. The first opportunity would see a firing of the Shuttle's large orbital maneuvering system engines at 3:06 p.m. to drop Discovery out of orbit and begin its high speed reentry toward Earth. Landing would occur at 4:18 p.m. Central time (5:18 p.m. EST). The second opportunity would see a deorbit burn at 4:48 p.m., resulting in a landing at 6:01 p.m. Central time (7:01 p.m. EST). The final opportunity for the day would have the deorbit burn occurring at 6:31 p.m. with landing to follow at 7:43 p.m. Central (8:43 p.m. EST). If Discovery lands on either of the last two opportunities, Commander Curt Brown and his crew would make the 13th night landing in Shuttle program history. The entry flight controllers will be receiving updated weather forecasts throughout the day, however the initial prediction is for favorable weather with a few high level clouds. Earlier predictions of cross winds at or near acceptable limits appear to be trending in a positive direction. Weather at the alternate landing site at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California also is predicted to be very good today although KSC is the prime landing site for today's opportunities.
- 1999 December 27 - STS-103 Mission Status Report #17.
The seven astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Discovery glided to a smooth landing at the Kennedy Space Center, wrapping up their eight-day mission to refurbish and repair the Hubble Space Telescope. After waving off the first landing opportunity of the day because of a concern with cross winds at the landing site, the crew was given a "go" to perform the deorbit burn which came at 4:48 p.m. CST and caused Discovery to fall out of its 380 statute mile high orbit to start the journey home to the Kennedy Space Center. With Commander Curt Brown at the controls, Discovery touched down at 6:01 p.m CST on Runway 33 at the three mile long Shuttle Landing Facility runway at KSC to complete a mission spanning almost 3.3 million miles. Pilot Scott Kelly, Flight Engineer Jean-Francois Clervoy and Mission Specialist Michael Foale joined Brown on the flight deck for entry and landing. Mission Specialists Steve Smith, John Grunsfeld and Claude Nicollier were seated down in the middeck. The end of the STS-103 mission marked the 20th consecutive landing at the Florida spaceport and the 13th night landing in the history of the Shuttle program. Left behind in orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope now features six new gyroscopes, six new voltage/temperature improvement kits, a new onboard computer, a new solid state recorder and new data transmitter, a new fine guidance sensor along with new insulation on parts of the orbiting telescope. The STS-103 crew will spend the evening in Florida before returning to Houston on Tuesday. The crew is expected to leave Patrick Air Force Base in Cocoa Beach, FL at approximately 1:30 p.m. CST. The crew should land at Ellington Field at about 5 p.m. where the seven astronauts will be greeted by JSC management and center employees. The crew return ceremony will occur at Hangar 990 and is open to the general public.
- 2000 February 11 - STS-99. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
On an extremely successful mission the space shuttle Endeavour deployed the 61 metre long STRM mast. This was a side-looking radar that digitally mapped with unprecedented accuracy the entire land surface of the Earth between latitudes 60 deg N and 54 deg S. Sponsors of the flight included the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), NASA, and the German and Italian space agencies. Some of the NIMA data would remain classified for exclusive use by the US Department of Defense.
- 2000 February 11 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #01.
With six astronauts on board, Endeavour sped to orbit under cloudless skies from the Kennedy Space Center today to begin the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the first human space flight of the 21st century. Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dom Gorie, and Mission Specialists Janice Voss, Janet Kavandi, Gerhard Thiele and Mamoru Mohri blasted off 14 minutes into the available 2 hour plus launch window at 11:44 a.m. Central time after a near flawless countdown, and arrived on orbit 8 ½ minutes later. The slight delay in launching Endeavour was due to the launch team needing a few minutes to resolve some minor technical issues before proceeding with the final portion of the countdown. The STS-99 crew's first tasks were to set up Endeavour for dual shift, round-the-clock operations using a trio of radar systems mounted in the cargo bay for the most comprehensive three-dimensional map of the Earth ever attempted. Once Endeavour's payload bay doors are opened, the Red Team of Kregel, Kavandi and Thiele will begin to activate the Shuttle radar instruments, and will prepare for the deployment of a 200-foot long boom over the left wing of the orbiter on which two of the radar systems are housed. That boom deploy will begin about 5 ½ hours into the mission. Kregel, Kavandi and Thiele will conduct a series of jet thruster firings once the boom is deployed to test its ability to flex properly and will set up recorders on board on which the radar data will be stored for downlink to mission scientists on the ground. Meantime, the Blue Team of Gorie, Voss and Mohri will begin an abbreviated six hour sleep period at 3:44 p.m. They'll be awakened at 9:44 p.m., soon after the radar boom has been checked out, to begin radar mapping operations late tonight. Endeavour is orbiting the Earth in an orbit inclined 57 degrees to either side of the Equator for the radar mapping of around 80 per cent of the Earth's surface. Endeavour is orbiting the planet every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 127 nautical miles.
- 2000 February 11 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #02.
Space shuttle astronauts deployed the longest rigid structure ever built in space today and continued work to check out the equipment they will use to produce unrivaled three-dimensional images of the Earth's surface. Red Team leader Commander Kevin Kregel, and colleagues Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele initiated extension of the radar mast at 5:27 p.m. CST. After 17 minutes, all 87 cube-shaped bays of the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, stainless steel, alpha titanium, and Invar structure were deployed by 5:44 p.m. Total length of the mast was 60.95 meters, or just under 200 feet. The crew also maneuvered the shuttle into the proper attitude, or orientation, for mapping. This orientation points the shuttle payload bay - and its inboard and outboard radar antennas - at the Earth. Endeavour's tail is leading the way as the shuttle orbits about 150 statute miles above the surface. The Red Team then began a series of jet thruster firings to test the ability of dampers to absorb the force of planned maneuvering jet firings and keep the inboard and outboard antennas properly aligned. This alignment is crucial for scientists who will need to combine the radar images received by the two sets of antennas. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will record radar data in both C-band and X-band radar wavelengths. This data eventually will be processed into 3-D maps of the Earth that are 30 times more exact than those currently available. These maps will be important to scientists in many disciplines, ranging from ecology to geology to hydrology, as well as a number of military and commercial applications. As the Red Team performed the checkout procedures, Blue Team members Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri set up the shuttle's network of portable computers and began an abbreviated six-hour sleep period at 3:44 p.m. They'll be awakened at 9:44 p.m. to begin radar mapping operations late tonight. Endeavour is orbiting the Earth in an orbit inclined 57 degrees to either side of the Equator for the radar mapping of a majority of the Earth's surface. The shuttle completes one orbit every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 statute miles.
- 2000 February 12 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #04.
By the time members of Endeavour's Red Team had reached lunchtime on this first full day in space for the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the radar antennas in the payload bay and at the end of a 200-foot mast had mapped about 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) of the Earth's surface, or the equivalent of about half the area of the United States. The Red Team - Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele - took over the mapping operations from their Blue Team counterparts shortly after waking up about 7 this morning Central Time. Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri turned in shortly after 2 this afternoon and are to be awakened at 10:14 tonight. For a few minutes this morning - while Japanese astronaut Mohri conducted mapping operations - Gorie and Voss discussed the mission with CNN and NBC's Today Show. The crew is working around the clock, in two shifts, to collect data that will produce maps of the Earth with unprecedented accuracy and uniformity. Mapping operations will continue for 10 days, and are proceeding very smoothly. SRTM will cover the area between 60 degrees north and 56 degrees south, roughly the area between St. Petersburg, Russia to the north and the tip of South America to the south. The area to be mapped is home to about 95 percent of the Earth's population. In all, more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface will be mapped. The first X-band image - of the area near White Sands, New Mexico - was released this afternoon, and scientists expressed their delight with the quality of the image. X-band images will be posted to the German Space Agency web site at www.dfd.dlr.de/srtm/html/newtoday_en.htm. Both the C-band and X-band radars continue to perform as expected. "The data we've seen so far looks just terrific," said Dr. Michael Kobrick, project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. "The mapping plan is right on schedule." Early this afternoon, Kregel fired the shuttle's thruster jets in a series of pulsed burns to measure the movement of the rigid mast extending over Endeavour's left wing. Flight controllers reported the tip of the mast moved only 11 inches, just as predicted, despite the fact the antenna's dampers remained locked in position. The firings were necessary to determine how they affect the mast, prior to upcoming maneuvers to raise Endeavour's orbit. Endeavour's crew also downlinked launch video from an in-cabin camera, providing a unique perspective of yesterday's flawless launch. All of Endeavour's payload and spacecraft systems are continuing to function normally.
- 2000 February 12 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #03.
Endeavour astronauts began mapping operations on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, which will provide maps of the Earth unprecedented in accuracy and uniformity. The first swath was begun as the orbiter crossed over southern Asia and continued until Endeavour flew over the continent's eastern coast and moved over the northern Pacific Ocean. The mapping will continue through the mission until the antenna mast is retracted before landing. Because of the 24-hour-a-day activity aboard Endeavour, the six crewmembers are divided into two teams. Blue Team members Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri began the first mapping swath, covering a 140-mile-wide path, at about 11:31 p.m. Friday. It was the beginning of coverage of more than 70 percent of the Earth's land surface. The mapping will cover an area between 60 degrees north and 56 degrees south, where about 95 percent of the Earth's population lives. The Red Team, led by Mission Commander Kevin Kregel, includes Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele. Their first shift was intense. It included deployment and checkout of the almost 200-foot mast supporting the outboard antenna structure. It is the largest rigid structure ever deployed in space. The Red Team began its sleep period at about 10:45 p.m. Friday and is scheduled to be awakened at 6:44 this morning. After mast deployment, tests revealed that the mast's damping system, designed as a kind of a shock absorber for the mast, was not working as expected. Flight controllers decided to leave the dampers in their locked position. Calculations showed that the mast was at no risk without the dampers activated. All planned science data takes have been acquired successfully and all indications from the telemetry show that the radars are performing nominally. Data has been sent to JPL for analysis and early indications are that the data is of excellent quality. Additional reports about mapping results are expected about 12:00 noon CST. Shortly after 5:30 a.m. Saturday, Voss and Gorie held a news conference with correspondents from NBC and CNN. Saturday is scheduled to be the first full day of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission mapping. Endeavour systems continued to function normally.
- 2000 February 13 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #06.
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission's mapping operation continues to run smoothly, with about 17.7 million square miles of the Earth's surface having been mapped by 7 p.m. Central time. Scientists also reported that 38 percent of landmasses had been mapped thus far in the flight. Despite a problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast, both the C-band and X-band radars continue to perform as expected, and the thruster problem has had no impact on mapping operations. "We are starting to see the first 'quick look' results from the X-band and C-band antennas and the details are fantastic," said Dr. Michael Kobrick, SRTM project scientist. "Even in this lower resolution, quick-look results, we can see many topographic features that were completely invisible in the best maps we have today." Two members of the Blue Team - Dom Gorie and Mamoru Mohri - spent a few minutes early this morning talking to Dr. Bob Ballard, discoverer of the RMS Titanic and founder of the JASON Foundation, an educational program designed to spark students' interest in science and technology. They also took questions from the Fox News Network. Endeavour's crew and flight controllers continue troubleshooting a problem with a small nitrogen thruster mounted at the tip of the radar's outboard antenna. Although gaseous nitrogen propellant is flowing, little or no thrust is being produced. Crew members cycled the valve open and closed in an attempt to pinpoint the problem. Controllers plan to leave the valve closed for several hours to attempt to quantify the rate of propellant usage. The thruster was designed to keep the mast from "righting" itself in response to Earth's gravity and remove the need for additional orbiter thruster firings to keep the antenna in its data-taking position. Without the thruster on the antenna, crew members have to fire the orbiter's thrusters more than expected. As the Blue Team wrapped up its third day in space, the Red Team of Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele took over mapping operations shortly after their wake-up call this morning. Gorie, Mohri and Janice Voss turned in shortly after 2 p.m., with a wake-up call set for 10:14 tonight to begin their fourth day of mapping activities. Controllers also did some troubleshooting on one of the on-board cameras after Gorie reported the system that records the time at which images are taken was not working. Controllers suspect that the batteries were weakened due to the delay in launching Endeavour. The weak batteries should have no impact on the use of the camera to support NASA's Earth observation program. After yesterday's repositioning of a camera bracket on the flight deck, EarthKAM operations continue nominally. As of late this afternoon, some 355 images had been downlinked from the EarthKAM. This NASA program allows students to use interactive Web pages to target and select images to be photographed from a camera onboard the shuttle. All of Endeavour's spacecraft systems are continuing to function normally as it circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 miles.
- 2000 February 13 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #05.
The first "flycast maneuver" trim burn was completed without a hitch by members of the Endeavour crew early Sunday. A little later, the Payload Operations Center reported that the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission had successfully mapped 7.64 million square miles as of very early Sunday morning. The flycast maneuver is designed to reduce strain on the almost-200-foot mast extending from Endeavour's cargo bay. The orbiter, which flies tail-first during mapping operations, is moved to a nose-first attitude with the mast extending upward. A brief reaction control system pulse begins the maneuver. The mast deflects slightly backwards, then rebounds forward. As it reaches vertical, a stronger thrust is applied, arresting the mast's motion and increasing the orbiter's speed. For this mission Endeavour is in a comparatively low orbit, and is slowed by the upper fringes of the Earth's atmosphere, which causes it to lose altitude. The crew will make daily flycast maneuver trim burns to keep the spacecraft in the proper altitude for mapping. Endeavour's Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel, and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, began their eight-hour sleep period shortly after the trim burn. Blue Team members went on duty at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Working around the clock in the two shifts, crewmembers will map an area from 60 degrees north to 56 degrees south. The area includes all the southern continents except Antarctica, and northern continents south of a line from the southern tip of Greenland, southern Alaska and through St. Petersburg, Russia. The area includes about 95 percent of the Earth's population. All of the orbiter's systems continue to function normally. Crewmembers and flight controllers in Houston continue to look at the cold gas jet on the end of the SRTM's outboard antenna. They are looking at consumption of propellant and the lack of thrust from that jet, designed to help maintain the attitude of the mast. The balky jet is having no impact on the mission's mapping activities.
- 2000 February 14 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #08.
"As excited as a kid on Christmas day" is how Shuttle Radar Topography Mission project engineer Ed Caro described his reaction to the progress of the radar-mapping mission thus far. Operations onboard Endeavour continued without interruption, even without the availability of a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the extended boom. By midday, about 24 million square miles had been mapped once, and 9 million square miles twice. That's more than half the planned coverage for the mission. Mission scientists continue to express delight with the "quick-look" data seen so far. SRTM project scientist Dr. Michael Kobrick notes that Endeavour is mapping 100,000 square kilometers every minute, and that after only three days of flight, the mission has tripled the world's supply of digital terrain elevation data. The low-resolution images processed so far show many topographic features that until now have been difficult to detect on the best maps in existence today. A continuing problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast has had no impact on mapping operations or data quality. Both radar systems -- C-band and X-band -- continue to perform flawlessly. Flight controllers are continuing to troubleshoot the problem with the thruster, which helps control the mast's attitude. This function currently is being performed by Endeavour's reaction control system. Mission managers are implementing propellant conservation measures and hope to meet the full nine-day science objective. The mast continues to provide an extremely stable platform for the mapping operations. As their workday concluded, Blue Team members Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri spent a few minutes on Endeavour's flight deck discussing various mission activities. The Blue Team turned in shortly after 2 p.m., with a wake-up call set for 10:14 tonight. The Red Team's Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele were awakened a few minutes after 10 a.m. to continue mapping operations. As of this morning, 525 images had been taken by students using the EarthKAM, which allows photos of Earth to be taken using a camera on the shuttle. So far, 20 of the 84 schools participating in the program have requested and received photos. All of Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 miles.
- 2000 February 14 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #07.
Endeavour crewmembers successfully completed their second "flycast maneuver" trim burn early Monday, as the spacecraft continued to gather data that will greatly improve our topographical knowledge of the Earth's surface. Scientists already have expressed delight with low-resolution "quick look" data, which revealed features not shown on today's best maps. By early Monday morning, about 20 million square miles had been imaged. By the planned end of the mission, more than 45 million square miles will have been imaged twice. Processing of the huge amount of data gathered by Endeavour - enough to fill about 13,500 CDs if all goes according to plan - will result in maps 30 times more accurate than the best global data available now. The maps also will be of unprecedented uniformity. The flycast maneuver reduces stress on the almost-200-foot mast extending from Endeavour's cargo bay. The orbiter flies tail-first during mapping operations. For the maneuver, it was moved to a nose-first attitude with the mast extending upward. A brief reaction control system pulse began the maneuver. The mast rebounded forward after a slight deflection backwards. As it straightened, a stronger thrust stopped its motion while increasing the orbiter's speed. Endeavour is in a low orbit, and is slowed by the upper atmosphere. The crewmembers make daily flycast maneuver trim burns to keep the spacecraft in the proper altitude for mapping. Flight controllers and crewmembers are troubleshooting a cold gas jet, a thruster on the SRTM outboard antenna. The jet is designed to help control the mast's attitude, a function now being performed by Endeavour's reaction control system jets. The mapping mission continued uninterrupted as flight controllers worked to develop propellant-conserving strategies. Members of the Blue Team, Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, continued to manage the Payload High Rate Recorders, changing the high-density tapes that will return the mapping data to Earth. About 270 of those tapes are expected to be filled. Members of the Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, are sleeping. They are scheduled to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. Central Standard Time.
- 2000 February 15 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #10.
New radar images of Brazil, South Africa and the South Island of New Zealand were unveiled this afternoon by elated scientists of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. "This snapshot of Earth will be used for decades to come," said deputy project scientist Dr. Tom Farr. Mapping operations continued smoothly into the mission's fifth day, with both radar and orbiter systems working flawlessly. By early afternoon, more than 29 million square miles had been mapped, representing more than 61 percent of the planned coverage for the mission. That's equivalent to the combined area of North America, South America and Africa. Flight controllers continue to troubleshoot a problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast, and are focusing on steps that can be implemented to conserve shuttle propellant. Several steps already have been implemented, including relaxing the requirements for maintaining the mast's attitude due to the better-than-expected stability of the mast. Additional steps are under review for their propellant-saving potential. Optimism is increasing that these measures will enable Endeavour to complete its planned mapping operations. Blue Team members Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri spoke with reporters from CNN, NBC's Today Show and KGO Radio in San Francisco earlier today. Voss, Mohri and Dom Gorie ended their day early this afternoon, and will be awakened to begin their sixth day on orbit at 10:14 tonight Central Time. The Red Team -- Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele -- was awakened shortly after 10 this morning and promptly resumed mapping operations. This afternoon, Kregel and Kavandi answered questions from students at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS; Sitting Bull College in Ft. Yates, ND; and Houston High School in San Antonio, TX. This event was part of a NASA effort to encourage students to pursue careers in science, engineering and math. All of Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 miles.
- 2000 February 15 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #09.
Endeavour astronauts had completed mapping well over half the targeted Earth land surface by early Tuesday, and scientists continued to express delight at the quality of information they were seeing. More than 20 percent of the targeted land had been mapped twice and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission had covered more than 6 percent of it three times. The area surveyed at least once was equal to that of Africa, North America and Australia combined. Those totals were growing rapidly. Endeavour was gathering mapping data on 40,000 square miles of land each minute. Scientists say the mission already has tripled the world's pool of digital terrain data with this much detail. Endeavour is gathering data four times faster than its advanced data communications system can send it to Earth. "Quick look" data sent down, with less detail than will be available from the high-density tapes being filled aboard the orbiter, already has revealed features not shown on even the best maps available today. While Endeavour continued to gather data that will be the basis for maps of unprecedented accuracy and uniformity, flight controllers were troubleshooting the balky cold-gas jet on the outboard antenna structure. The jet helps maintain the attitude of the mast - the longest rigid structure ever deployed in space. The orbiter's reaction control system jets are being used for that function. Flight controllers are developing further procedures to conserve propellant. Blue Team members Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri sent down television early Tuesday. It showed Voss using an inflatable globe to explain the SRTM mission, Mamoru Mohri, taking photos out the commander's window, and then, with Pilot Dom Gorie, changing a tape on a payload high rate recorder. Members of the Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel, and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, are in their sleep period. They are scheduled to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. Central Standard Time. Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it circles the Earth at a speed of about 5 miles a second and an altitude of about 150 miles.
- 2000 February 16 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #12.
With growing confidence that fuel-saving measures onboard Endeavour will permit the radar mapping mission to run its full duration, flight controllers and crew members today marked the mission's mid-way point. "We're almost there," stated Milt Heflin, NASA's Deputy Chief Flight Director. Science operations progressed flawlessly through the halfway point of the 11-day mission. "You have six smiling faces up here," remarked Gerhard Thiele after being told how well the mapping was going. As of noon today, more than 73 percent, or 35 million square miles, of the target area has been mapped once. That exceeds the land area of the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. More than 38 percent of the target area - 18 million square miles - has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour collects data on 40,000 square miles every minute it is over land. New radar images of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, and of northwestern Mongolia were released today. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission images hold the promise of helping scientists and planners better understand such potential problems as river flooding and soil erosion. While continuing to troubleshoot the balky small thruster on the tip of Endeavour's 200-foot mast, flight controllers are implementing steps to conserve the propellant used by the orbiter's reaction control system jets to maintain the mast's attitude. With pilot Dom Gorie cycling the cold gas line, Janice Voss reported seeing a small, white object moving out of Endeavour's payload bay. The object is suspected to be a small piece of ice. The remaining Blue Team member, Mamoru Mohri, took some time out of his day to talk with students in his native country of Japan. Later today, Thiele answered questions from reporters at the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen. Meanwhile, EarthKam has processed 1,033 images - more than from any other shuttle mission. Using a camera mounted in Endeavour's overhead window, school students are taking pictures of the Earth. On four previous flights, EarthKam took about 2,000 photos. Endeavour continues to provide an excellent platform for the most accurate and unified topographical mapping of the Earth ever produced.
- 2000 February 16 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #11.
Optimism in orbit and in Mission Control that Endeavour will have enough propellant and power to complete its planned mapping of more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface continues to increase. Mission Control also told the astronauts that the EarthKAM aboard Endeavour has successfully transmitted its 1,000th image for middle school students. Scientists reported that 67.2 percent of the target area - 32 million square miles - had been mapped by early Wednesday. That is equal to the area of the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. It is about 56 percent of all the Earth's land surface. More than 32.5 percent of the target area had been mapped with two passes. That 15.5 million square miles is roughly equal to the combined areas of Africa and Australia. New radar images of Brazil, South Africa and the South Island of New Zealand were released Tuesday afternoon by enthusiastic scientists who said the picture of the Earth obtained by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will be used for decades to come. EarthKAM, mounted in the overhead starboard window of Endeavour's aft flight deck, lets middle school students take pictures of the Earth. They use interactive web pages to select photos. On four previous flights, EarthKAM took more than 2,000 photos. The astronauts completed the fourth trim burn, adjusting the orbiter's altitude using the "flycast maneuver." The carefully choreographed and timed maneuver is designed to adjust Endeavour's orbit while imparting minimal stress to the 200-foot mast protruding from the cargo bay. Mapping operations continued flawlessly early Wednesday. Endeavour was gathering data on 40,000 square miles of land a minute while it was over land areas. Flight controllers continue to troubleshoot a problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast. They have implemented a number of steps to conserve the propellant used by Endeavour's reaction control system jets, which are being used to maintain the attitude of the mast in the absence of the jet. Flight controllers and crewmembers are optimistic that they will have enough propellant and power to complete their planned nine-day, nine-hour mapping operations. Blue Team members, Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, are on duty. Earlier in his shift, Mohri took time out to talk with Japanese students in Tokyo and Kagoshima. Members of the Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, were in their sleep period. They are scheduled to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it continues to gather data for unprecedentedly accurate and unified topographical maps of the Earth.
- 2000 February 17 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #13.
Masses of data that will result in topographical maps far better than any now available continue to flow into high-rate recorders as Endeavour enters the second half of its Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Efforts to conserve propellant and power continue to pay off, with officials gaining more confidence that the entire nine days, nine hours of mapping operations will be completed. By early Thursday more that 77 percent or 36.4 million square miles of the target area has been mapped once. That is about equal to Asia, the Americas and Australia combined, or about twice the area of the surface of the moon. More than 20.24 million square miles has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour collects data on 40,000 square miles every minute it is over land. At that rate, SRTM could map an area the size of Florida in 90 seconds. Propellant for the shuttle's reaction control system jets became an issue after failure of a small cold-gas jet on the end of the almost 200-foot mast extending from Endeavour's payload bay. The small jet was designed to help control the attitude of the mast. Without the jet, the orbiter's reaction control system jets are doing the job. Their increased propellant consumption has required a number of fuel conservation steps on the orbiter to enable a complete mapping mission. Mapping operations are not affected, and scientists continue to express delight at the quality of even the rough data, sent down to confirm SRTM function. The radar gathers data at a rate about four times as fast as the orbiter can send it down. It is being collected on about 270 high-density tapes (which hold as much information as 13,500 CDs). But even the early, rough data show scientists features not seen on today's best maps. Endeavour's Blue Team, Pilot Dom Gorie and mission specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, is on duty until about noon Central Standard Time. Mohri is speaking with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Hirofumi Nakasone, at 6:22 a.m. The Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, is sleeping. Its wakeup call is scheduled for 10:14 a.m. EarthKAM continued its record-breaking performance. A secondary payload mounted in an upper window on Endeavour's flight deck, EarthKAM is used by middle school students to take digital photos of the Earth's surface. It has sent down a mission record of more than 1,250 photos. On four previous flights, EarthKAM took a total of about 2,000 photos.
- 2000 February 17 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #14.
Propellant conservation measures have paid off and Endeavour's crew was notified this morning that the mapping operations will continue for the full nine days as planned prior to launch. "That's great news," replied Pilot Dom Gorie. "They're getting some fantastic data on this mission." As of noon today, 81 percent, or more than 39 million square miles of the target area had been mapped once. That exceeds the land area of the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. More than 47 percent of the target area - over 22 million square miles - has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour images 40,000 square miles of land every minute. Astronaut Chris Hadfield in Mission Control transmitted the good news to the crew aboard Endeavour while all six astronauts were awake conducting a shift change. The crew is working around the clock on two shifts conducting the detailed mapping operations. Several fuel-saving steps have been implemented, including a change in the way excess water is dumped overboard, and allowing more flexibility in holding Endeavour and the 200-foot mast in the proper attitude. The final conservation measure will be the deletion of the eighth trim burn, which controllers believe can safely be deleted by adjusting the sixth and seventh burns without a disruption to data collection. Exuberant scientists today released new radar images of the San Andreas Fault in California, the Los Angeles basin, Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains, and the island of Hokkaido, Japan, birthplace of Mission Specialist Mamoru Mohri. "We're well on the way to making the best topographic map of the world ever," said Dr. Diane Evans, chief scientist in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Earth Science Office. "We are ecstatic about this data set." She said the level of detail in maps resulting from this Shuttle Radar Topography Mission should help scientists better understand earthquakes and mudflows. Science operations continued through the seventh day of the mission, with trouble-shooting a problem with one of six high data-rate recorders on board being the only issue of significance. The recorders are used to capture the masses of data collected during the SRTM mission on 270 tapes. Earlier today, Mohri spoke about the mission with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and the Minister of State for Science and Technology. Later, he joined Dom Gorie and Janice Voss for interviews with The Weather Channel and two television stations. Janet Kavandi briefly joined them to send greetings to her hometown of Springfield, MO. Meanwhile, EarthKam continues its record-breaking production of images, having processed 1,355 images. The project allows school students to remotely take pictures of the Earth using a camera mounted in one of Endeavour's windows. The orbiter continues to perform smoothly and provide a solid platform for the most accurate and unified topographical mapping of the Earth ever produced.
- 2000 February 18 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #15.
With unprecedented detail of well over half of the world's terrain already safely stored aboard, Endeavour's crew continued mapping the Earth uninterrupted this morning, marching toward more than nine full days of radar observations thanks to successful fuel conservation measures. Early today, Endeavour completed its sixth "Flycast Maneuver" trim burn, a gentle engine firing that maintains the Shuttle's altitude at around 150 statute miles for the precise mapping work. Today's burn gave the Shuttle a slightly larger boost than previous daily firings, a measure that will allow controllers to save fuel by eliminating a subsequent firing on Sunday. The next trim burn is now planned for midday on Saturday. So far, the Shuttle Radar Topography instruments aboard Endeavour have mapped 83 percent, or almost 40 million square miles, of the target area once, an area larger than the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. More than 50 percent of the target area, over 24 million square miles, has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour images 40,000 square miles of land every minute, a rate that would allow the Shuttle to map the state of Alaska in 15 minutes and the state of Rhode Island in less than two seconds. In addition to the changes in trim burns, other fuel conservation measures aboard Endeavour have included changing the way waste water is dumped overboard, slightly relaxing the spacecraft's stringent attitude control guidelines and limiting the use of some equipment. Early in the mission, the failure of a tiny thruster at the end of the 197-foot mast protruding from Endeavour's cargo bay resulted in increased use of the Shuttle's steering jets and fuel. On Thursday, flight controllers noted that the small nitrogen gas thruster on the mast now appeared to be again providing some thrust, a trend that could further improve the Shuttle's predicted fuel consumption. While the radar mapping continues, a student-operated camera mounted in one of Endeavour's windows also has set a record pace. So far, the experiment, called EarthKAM, has sent down almost 1,400 photos of Earth to middle school students. On four previous shuttle flights combined, EarthKAM sent down a total of about 2,000 photos. Working around the clock, Endeavour's crew is divided into two shifts. The Blue Team -- Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri -- are now on duty. Voss and Mohri took time out from their work this morning to provide television of the high-rate recorders used for the mapping operations and a High-Definition Television Camera. The recorders use high-density tapes to capture the radar mapping data. About 270 tapes will be recorded, containing a volume of data that would fill about 13,500 CDs. The data will allow topographical maps to be created of a majority of Earth that will be several times more accurate than are available today. The HDTV camcorder aboard Endeavour is one of the first steps in NASA's transition to HDTV. The Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, are sleeping and will awaken at 10:14 a.m. CST. The entire crew will participate in a press conference at 11:59 a.m. today, fielding questions from U.S. and Japanese reporters at NASA centers. Subsequently, Thiele, Kregel, Kavandi and Voss will take a call from German Research Minister Edelgard Buhlmann. Endeavour continues to function well.
- 2000 February 18 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #16.
Mission managers late this afternoon announced a nine-hour extension to the data-taking portion of the mission. That means that mapping of the Earth now will continue until about 6 a.m. Monday. Astronaut Chris Hadfield in Mission Control relayed the good news shortly before 4 p.m. to Commander Kevin Kregel and the rest of Endeavour's crew. "That's super news," Kregel replied. "I'm sure the folks at the Jet Propulsion Lab and NIMA are really ecstatic about that." As of noon today, 88 percent, or more than 42 million square miles of the target area had been mapped once. More than 57 percent of the target area - over 27 million square miles - has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour images 40,000 square miles of land every minute. At that rate, it can image an area the size of Rhode Island in just 2 seconds. Scientists today released radar images of the San Andreas Fault and the Rose Bowl area in southern California, the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, and the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Scientists predict that the level of detail in maps resulting from data collected during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will help scientists better understand hazards such as wildfires, lava flows, tsunamis and floods. Science operations continued smoothly through the mission's eighth day, with all radar and support hardware continuing to work better than hoped. "Everything is perfect. It's incredible," observed Marian Werner, X-SAR project manager for the German Aerospace Agency, which provided the X-band radar system used by SRTM. Earlier today, Endeavour's six astronauts gathered together for their traditional news conference, answering questions from U.S. and Japanese reporters. NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and German Research Minister Edelgard Buhlmann also congratulated the crew on the success of the mission and the potential benefits of the resulting high-resolution maps. EarthKam continues its outstanding performance. It has nearly equaled the number of images produced during its first four flights combined, with more than 1,700 images produced thus far. Endeavour continues to perform smoothly and provide a solid platform for the most accurate and unified topographical mapping of the Earth ever produced.
- 2000 February 19 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #17.
The EarthKAM, a digital camera mounted at an overhead window on Endeavour's flight deck, continues its record setting pace. A little after 4 a.m. CST Saturday flight controllers reported it had sent down more than 2,018 images, the combined total of the four previous flights on which it had flown. The camera takes pictures for middle school students. Through the Internet, their schools' mission operations centers are linked to the EarthKAM Mission Operations Center at the University of California at San Diego. Except for setup, initial camera pointing and lens changes, no crew involvement is required for normal operations. Meanwhile, flight controllers continued to successfully conserve fuel and electricity aboard Endeavour and plan an extension of the mapping work. The nine-hour extension of imaging operations means that mapping will continue until about 6 a.m. Monday. Successful completion of the 9 days, 18 hours of mapping will mean that almost all of the target area will be imaged -- only small areas of the United States, already well mapped, would be missed. The target area is the 80 percent of the Earth's land between 60 degrees north, the latitude of Hudson Bay, and 56 degrees south, Cape Horn at the tip of South America. It is home to 95 percent of the Earth's people. With the current plan, more than 99.9 percent of the area would be imaged at least once. More than 94.6 percent of it would be covered at least twice, and almost half would be imaged at least three times. Scientists reported that by early Saturday 89.6 percent of the target area, 42.7 million square miles, had been mapped once. About 60.1 percent, or 28.6 million square miles, had been imaged at least twice. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission's sophisticated radar continued to collect surface imaging data at a rate of 40,000 square miles a minute. Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Gerhard Thiele and Janet Kavandi, the Red Team, and the Blue Team members Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, held their crew news conference Friday. Today Kregel and Thiele will answer questions from German news media representatives and later speak with dignitaries at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The Red Team is asleep and is to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. The Blue Team remains on duty until 11:59 a.m.
- 2000 February 19 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #18.
Following yesterday's decision by mission managers to extend mapping operations, Endeavour's astronauts are set to continue collecting data until 5:44 a.m. Central time Monday. At that point preparations will begin to stow the 200-foot-long mast for the remainder of the mission. This 9-hour extension allows for almost 100 percent of the planned coverage of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The mission's target mapping area includes about 47.6 million square miles. As of noon, 92 percent, or about 44 million square miles, of the target area had been mapped once. More than 65 percent of the target area - nearly 31 million square miles - has been mapped with two or more passes. Only 80,000 square miles of the target area, mostly in North America, will remain unmapped by the end of mapping operations. Highly accurate topographic maps of these areas already exist. Clearly elated, scientists released new images of Oahu, Molokai, Lanai and west Maui, Hawaii; Dallas, Texas; Salalah, Oman; and Tasmania, Australia. Quick-Time movies of Hokkaido, Japan, home of Mission Specialist Mamoru Mohri, and of Brazil, also were released. "I have to believe that scientists all over the world are giving a standing ovation to the SRTM team," observed Dr. Jeffrey Plaut, a research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He said that maps resulting from SRTM data would help archaeologists study ancient cultures and the lands they inhabited, and better understand the reasons for their demise. Science operations continued on schedule through the mission's ninth day, with all radar and orbiter systems continuing to work smoothly. Endeavour's crew carried out the seventh trim burn of the mission earlier today. This "flycast maneuver" keeps the spacecraft at the proper altitude for mapping and is designed to reduce the stresses on the mast and minimize the loads at the tip. This was the last flycast maneuver planned during the mission. Earlier today, Commander Kevin Kregel and European Space Agency astronaut Gerhard Thiele spoke to reporters gathered at the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen and in Munich. At 7:14 p.m., the crew will send greetings to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the world's largest. Endeavour's systems continue to perform flawlessly as it circles the Earth at an altitude of about 150 statute miles.
- 2000 February 20 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #20.
Earth radar mapping continues smoothly on its last full day with Endeavour's crew scheduled to wrap up operations early Monday morning at 5:53 Central Time. As of noon today, 99 percent, or about 47 million square miles of the target area had been mapped once. More than 87 percent of the target area - nearly 42 million square miles - has been mapped twice. With another 10 minutes added to mapping operations, complete mapping of Australia will be completed with Flinders Island on the northeast corner of Tasmania being the final area mapped. Stowage of the 200-foot-long mast is set to begin at 7:14 a.m. By 7:50 tomorrow morning, the radar system and pallet should be deactivated. The additional 10 minutes of mapping brings the total imaging time to nine days, 18 hours, 10 minutes, which equates to 99.96 percent of the planned coverage area being mapped during the mission. The coverage area extends from Hudson Bay in the north to the tip of South America, an area equal to 47.6 million square miles. Only 80,000 square miles of the target area - about the size of West Virginia - will remain unmapped by the end of mapping operations. However, the majority of this unmapped area is in North America and already has been accurately mapped. Images released today included Oahu, Hawaii; Miquelon Island and St. Pierre Island, Newfoundland; Kamchatka, Russia; and Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany (home of the German Aerospace Agency). Other new images showed Katmandu, Nepal; Cotopaxi, Ecuador; and Baikal, Russia. Data of volcanic sites around the world, such as Hawaii and Kamchatka, will be useful for studying the history of volcanic activity in dormant volcanoes, as well as for hazard preparedness in active volcanic areas. Areas mapped today include Yellowstone National Park; Mauna Loa, Hawaii; and Ayers Rock, Australia. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission program scientist Dr. Earnest Paylor described the mission as "a magnificent accomplishment," noting that equatorial regions of the Earth previously unmapped due to constant cloud cover have been mapped by SRTM radar. Tom Hennig, SRTM program manager for the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, called the success of the mission "absolutely wonderful." Tomorrow, Endeavour's crew turns its attention to returning home, with landing scheduled for 3:52 Central Time Tuesday afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Check out of the flight control surfaces and orbiter thruster jets is scheduled to begin at noon. After the orbiter systems checks are complete, the crew will begin stowing the cabin for Tuesday's landing.
- 2000 February 20 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #19.
Endeavour's astronauts are looking forward to using one more small bonus in mapping operations time. They were given an additional 10 minutes, bringing the total to nine days, 18 hours and 10 minutes. The additional minutes have been added to allow one more mapping pass across Australia, rather than turning off the radar just as the spacecraft approaches the nation's coastline. So far, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission has imaged 44.7 million square miles, or about 93.9 percent of the target area, at least once. About 33.4 million square miles or 70.1 percent of the target area has been imaged at least twice. The target area extends from 60 degrees north latitude to 56 degrees south latitude. That covers all the Southern Hemisphere landmasses except Antarctica and Northern Hemisphere land south of Hudson Bay and St. Petersburg, Russia. It is home to about 95 percent of Earth's population. At the scheduled end of mapping operations, more than 99.9 percent of the area will have been imaged at least once. More than 94.6 percent of it will be covered at least twice, and almost half will be imaged at least three times. All but about 80,000 square miles of targeted land will have been covered. The areas that will not be covered are in small, scattered segments, mostly in North America and most of them already accurately mapped. Endeavour's radar, gathering data in 140-mile-wide swaths as the spacecraft orbits at 17,500 miles per hour, images 40,000 square miles each minute. Data from this mission will, after a year or more of processing, produce the most accurate and most uniform global topography maps ever made. The EarthKAM, a digital camera mounted at an overhead window on Endeavour's flight deck, has sent down about 2,200 images so far, and the number is growing. On four previous shuttle flights, EarthKAM sent down a total of 2,018 images. The camera takes pictures for middle school students working on projects in Earth science, geography, space sciences and other topics. Through the Internet, their schools' mission operations centers are linked to the EarthKAM Mission Operations Center at the University of California at San Diego, which sends up photo targets and receives the images. Except for setup, initial camera pointing and lens changes, no crew involvement is required for normal operations. On Saturday, Endeavour's crew carried out the seventh and final trim burn and flycast maneuver of the flight. The maneuver keeps the spacecraft at the proper altitude for mapping and is designed to reduce the stresses on the mast and minimize the loads at the tip. Blue Team members, Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, are on duty and continue mapping operations. Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Gerhard Thiele and Janet Kavandi, the Red Team, are sleeping. They are to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. CST. Endeavour's systems continue to perform well as it orbits about 150 statute miles above the surface.
- 2000 February 21 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #21.
Endeavour's astronauts finished their successful Shuttle Radar Topography Mission mapping operations early Monday, then retracted the system's 200-foot mast into its payload bay canister. The mast, the longest rigid structure ever deployed in space, supported the external antenna structure during more than 222 hours of data gathering that mapped almost 100 percent of all planned sites around the world. The mast folded smoothly into its nine-foot-long canister in Endeavour's payload bay during the 18 minute retraction operation that astronauts began at 7:17 a.m. Central Time. The crew flipped the outboard antenna structure over to its stowed position, then began retracting the mast itself. As each of the 86 bays of the mast entered the canister, the bay's corners were captured in spiraling grooves inside the canister, much like those in a rifle barrel. Completion of the final portion of stowing the SRTM mast was delayed when the three latches on the lid of the mast canister failed to engage as expected. Suspecting that the cold thermal temperatures the mast experienced while deployed were reducing the flexibility of the system, flight controllers had the astronauts work procedures to warm up the mast canister while increasing the torque pull of the canister motors. The efforts of Endeavour's crew and Mission Control were rewarded at 9:50 a.m. Central time when all three latches on the mast canister closed, securing the SRTM payload for the ride home to Earth. Radar data gathering concluded at 5:54 a.m. after a final sweep across Australia. During 222 hours and 23 minutes of mapping, Endeavour's radar images filled 332 high density tapes and covered 99.98 percent of the planned mapping area - land between 60 degrees north latitude and 56 degrees south latitude - at least once and 94.6 percent of it twice. Only about 80,000 square miles in scattered areas remained unimaged, most of them in North America and most already well mapped by other methods. Enough data were gathered to fill the equivalent of 20,000 CD's. The EarthKAM, a digital camera mounted at an overhead window on Endeavour's flight deck, has been shut down for the remainder of the flight, after sending to Earth about 2,600 digital images of the planet's surface. On four previous shuttle flights EarthKAM sent down a total of 2,018 images. Later today, Endeavour's crew will turn its attention to returning home. Check out of the flight control surfaces and orbiter thruster jets is scheduled to begin at noon. After the orbiter systems checks are complete, the crew will begin stowing the cabin for tomorrow's return to the Kennedy Space Center with landing scheduled for 3:50 p.m. Central Time Tuesday.
- 2000 February 21 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #22.
With mapping operations complete and Endeavour's radar mapping hardware stowed, astronauts today conducted checks of various flight control surfaces and thruster jets in preparation for tomorrow's return to Earth. After wrapping up mapping operations at 5:54 a.m. Central time today with a final pass over Australia, Endeavour's crew retracted the 200-foot mast into its payload bay canister. The mast, the longest rigid structure ever deployed in space, supported the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission's external antenna structure during more than 222 hours of data gathering. Mast retraction proceeded smoothly as each of its 86 external sections, or bays, folded into the nine-foot-long canister during the 18-minute retraction procedure. Final mast stowage was delayed when the three latches on the lid of the mast canister failed to engage as expected. The first two efforts failed to secure the latches, but the third attempt succeeded and all three latches on the mast canister were activated at 9:50 a.m. Central time. The SRTM mapped almost 100 percent of all planned sites around the world, a total area of more than 47.6 million square miles. The area mapped four times represents more than twice the area of the United States. SRTM project scientist Dr. Mike Kobrick called SRTM "a truly outstanding achievement." New images released today showed Fiji; the San Francisco Bay area; Pasadena, CA; the San Andreas Fault near Palmdale, CA; and an animated fly-around from Pasadena to Palmdale along the San Andreas Fault. This afternoon, Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dom Gorie and flight engineer Janet Kavandi tested Endeavour's flight control surfaces and reaction control system thrusters. Deactivation and stowage of radar mapping hardware and the Ku antenna were completed, and members of the Red Team - Kregel, Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele -- began cabin stowage. The Blue Team - Gorie, payload commander Janice Voss and Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mohri -- will complete stowage tomorrow morning. The Blue Team began its sleep period at 5:44 p.m., and will be awakened at 1:14 a.m. Tuesday. There are three landing opportunities available tomorrow, two at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the third at Edwards, CA. The first opportunity would bring Endeavour back to KSC at 3:50 p.m. Central. There is another opportunity one orbit later, with a KSC landing at 5:22 p.m. Central. The third opportunity would see Endeavour land at Edwards at 6:48 p.m. Central time. The previous 20 shuttle missions have ended with landings at KSC. The last Edwards landing was STS-76 in March 1996. The primary concerns for a KSC landing are strong crosswinds and a low layer of clouds. Weather conditions at KSC are not expected to improve Wednesday or Thursday, and are expected to deteriorate at Edwards after Tuesday. During 225 hours of operation during this mission, EarthKam took 2,715 images. Over 75 middle schools from around the world participated. The previous record number of images for a single flight was 670 on STS-86. The total number of images for this flight alone far exceeded the combined total from all previous flights.
- 2000 February 22 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #23.
Endeavour's crew is preparing for a return home today, working toward a touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 3:50 p.m. CST, the first of three landing opportunities. A second opportunity to land in Florida is available with a touchdown at 5:22 p.m. CST. Endeavour also may land at Edwards Air Force Base, California, with a touchdown at 6:48 p.m. CST. Flight controllers are closely monitoring the weather at the Kennedy Space Center and at Edwards Air Force Base. High winds and possible cloud cover are forecast for Kennedy that could prohibit a landing there. The forecast for Edwards calls for acceptable landing weather. To land on the first opportunity to Florida, Endeavour would fire its engines to begin its descent at 2:53 p.m. CST. For the second Florida landing opportunity, Endeavour would fire its engines at 4:24 p.m. to leave orbit. For a landing in California, Endeavour would fire its engines at 5:51 p.m. CST. Along with the six astronauts, aboard Endeavour are 332 high-density tapes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission containing data that will be used to produce global maps more accurate and more unified than any available today. During 222 hours and 23 minutes of operation, Endeavour's radar covered 99.98 percent of the planned mapping area - land between 60 degrees north latitude and 56 degrees south latitude - at least once. About 94.6 percent of it was covered twice. Only about 80,000 square miles in scattered areas remained unimaged, most of them in North America and most already well mapped by other methods. The data on the tapes would fill about 20,000 CD's. The total area mapped is more than 47.6 million square miles. Also aboard Endeavour is a student experiment called EarthKAM which took 2,715 digital photos during the mission through an overhead flight-deck window. The NASA-sponsored program lets middle school students select photo targets and receive the images via the Internet. The pictures are used in classroom projects on Earth science, geography, mathematics and space science. More than 75 middle schools around the world participated in the experiment, which set a record. On four previous flights combined, EarthKAM sent down a total of 2,018 images. The last Space Shuttle mission to land at Edwards was STS-76 in March 1996. Since then, 20 missions have landed at Kennedy.
- 2000 February 22 - STS-99 Mission Status Report #24.
The six astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour glided to a smooth landing at the Kennedy Space Center at sunset today, wrapping up their 11-day radar mapping mission, the first human space flight of the 21st century. With Commander Kevin Kregel at the controls, Endeavour touched down at 5:22 p.m Central time on Runway 33 at the three mile long Shuttle Landing Facility to complete a mission spanning almost 4.7 million statute miles. Pilot Dom Gorie, Flight Engineer Janet Kavandi and Mission Specialist Janice Voss joined Kregel on the flight deck for entry and landing. Mission Specialist Mamoru Mohri from NASDA, the Japanese space agency, and European Space Agency astronaut Gerhard Thiele were seated down in the middeck. The end of the STS-99 mission marked the 21st consecutive landing at the Florida spaceport. After waving off the first landing opportunity of the day because of high cross winds at the landing site, the crew was given a "go" to perform the deorbit burn which came at 4:24 p.m. Central time and caused Endeavour to fall out of its 150 statute mile high orbit to start the journey home to the Kennedy Space Center. The data brought home by Endeavour's crew was collected during more than 222 hours of around-the-clock radar mapping operations and is enough to fill more than 20,000 CDs. The information gathered on the STS-99 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will be used to produce global maps more accurate than any available today. The STS-99 crew will spend the evening in Florida before returning to Houston on Wednesday. The crew should land at Ellington Field in Houston near the Johnson Space Center at about 1:30 p.m. Central time where the six astronauts will be greeted by JSC management and center employees. The crew return ceremony will occur at Hangar 990 and is open to the general public.
- 2000 June 30 - TDRS 8. Spacecraft: HS 601. Mass: 3,180 kg (7,010 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Atlas.
Launch delayed from June 29. First Advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, using a Hughes HS 601 satellite bus. It included an S-band phased array antenna and two Ku/Ka band reflectors 4.6 meters in diameter. The satellite was launched into a a 167 x 577 km x 28.3 deg parking orbit at 13:05 GMT. The Centaur upper stage made a second burn at 13:21 GMT, releasing the satellite into a subsynchronous transfer orbit of 237 x 27,666 km x 27.0 deg. The satellite's own Primex/Marquardt R4D liquid apogee engine would be used to maneuver the satellite into its final geosynchronous orbit. Stationed at 151 deg W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 150 deg W in 2000. As of 5 September 2001 located at 149.99 deg W drifting at 0.014 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 145.38E drifting at 3.007W degrees per day.
- 2002 March 1 - STS-109. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
Hubble Servicing Mission 3B. STS-109 main engine cutoff came at 1130 UTC with Columbia in a 55 x 574 km x 28.5 deg transfer orbit. The OMS-2 burn at about 1207 UTC raised perigee to about 195 km. There was a problem with a freon cooling loop on the Orbiter, but it wasn't quite bad enough to affect the mission. The Hubble Space Telescope closed its aperture door on March 2 in preparation for the rendezvous. Columbia got within 100m of HST by 0852 UTC on March 3 and grappled it with the RMS at 0931 UTC. HST was berthed on the FSS in Columbia's payload bay by 1032 UTC. In the course of five spacewalks, the crew installed new equipment on HST. This was the first flight of Columbia since the launch of Chandra in 1999 following refurbishment. In the first two spacewalks, two new solar arrays were installed, and the two old arrays stowed on the RAC carrier. The RWA-1R reaction wheel assembly on the MULE carrier replaced the faltering RWA-1 in the telescope. The third spacewalk was the most difficult, as HST was entirely powered down while astronauts replaced its power controller unit, not designed for on-orbit replacement. On the fourth spacewalk the astronauts removed the European FOC camera, aboard HST since launch in 1990, and replaced it with the new ACS (Advanced Camera for Surveys). They also installed the CASH wire harness, part of the aft shroud cooling system. On the final spacewalk, the astronauts installed the NCS (NICMOS cooling system) cryocooler in the aft shround and the associated NCS radiator on the telescope's exterior. The NICMOS infrared camera had been idle since its original thermal control system failed. With the removal of FOC, the COSTAR device (which deployed contact lenses for the original instruments) became obsolete, since the newer instruments made the corrections to the incorrect HST mirror internally. Cargo manifest: - Middeck:4 EMU spacesuits - 480 kg
- Bay 4: RAC (Rigid Array Carrier) - 2393 kg. The RAC carried the two folded SA-III rigid solar arrays which replaced the SA-II roll-up arrays. It calso carried the DBA2 diode box assembly which controlled the arrays, and a wire harness and containers associated with the NICMOS cooling system.
- Bay 7-8: SAC (Second Axial Carrier) - 2517 kg. The SAC was a specially designed pallet that flew on the first two Hubble SM flights, STS-61 and STS-82. On this flight it carried the ACS camera up (and the FOS camera down) as well as the NCS cryocooler, the PCU-R power controller, the CASH wire harness, and the thermal covers used in the PCU replacement.
- Bay 11: FSS (Flight Support System) - 2111 kg. The FSS first flew on STS 41-C (the Solar Max Repair) and was reused for each of the HST SM flights. It carried the BAPS Berthing and Positioning System, which was the docking ring for HST. Stowed on the FSS were a support post for BAPS and a cover for the HST low gain antenna.
- Bay 12: MULE (Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment Carrier) - 1409 kg. The MULE carried the NCS radiator, the NCS electronics support module, and the RWA-1R reaction wheel unit. MULE first flew on STS-48 carrying the UARS satellite, and then on STS-95 carrying the HOST payload which tested out the NCS.
- Sill: RMS arm No 201 - 410 kg
- 2002 March 8 - TDRS 9. Spacecraft: HS 601. Mass: 3,192 kg (7,037 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Atlas.
Launch delayed from October 31, November 13 and 26, 2001 and February 6 due to contract dispute with Boeing over performance of earlier satellites of the series. The Centaur upper stage entered a 167 x 578 km parking orbit and then placed the payload into a 247 x 29135 km x 27.1 deg subsynchronous transfer orbit. NASA's TDRS-I (TDRS-9) data relay satellite used a Boeing BSS-601 bus and was to provide S, Ku and Ka band communications for the Shuttle and International Space Station. After launch a problem developed with the fuel supply from one of the satellite's four propellant tanks. The tanks were paired, so losing one tank cuts the propellant supply in half. A test burn of the General Dynamics R-4D apogee motor raised the orbit to 433 x 29146 km x 26.4 deg on March 11 and a larger perigee burn raised the apogee to geostationary altitude, 429 x 35800 km, on March 13. A further burn on March 19, raised the orbit to 3521 x 35789 km and lowered the inclination to 21.4 deg. A burn on March 25 raised the orbit further to 8383 x 35811 km and lowered inclination to 17.4 deg. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 62.04W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.
- 2002 December 5 - TDRS 10. Spacecraft: HS 601. Mass: 3,190 kg (7,030 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Atlas.
Delayed from October 29, November 21 and 23. The third and final Advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite satellite separated from the Centaur upper stage 30 minutes after launch. This completed the $800 million, three satellite contract. Last launch of the Atlas 2A booster. Flight delayed from October 29, November 21 and 23. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 40.92W drifting at 0.012E degrees per day.
- 2003 January 16 - STS-107. Spacecraft: Columbia. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
The last solo shuttle earth orbit mission ended in tragedy when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry at an altitude of 63.15 km and a speed of Mach 18. Launch delayed from May 23, June 27, July 11 and 19, November 29, 2002.
- 2003 February 1 - Loss of STS-107.
The shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry at an altitude of 63.15 km and a speed of Mach 18. All hands aboard were lost. The loss grounded the shuttle fleet pending a failure investigation and left the crew of Bowersox, Pettit and Budarin aboard the International Space Station with a Soyuz emergency return vehicle but without means of major station resupply.
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