STS-44

STS-44
	Atlantis deploys a Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite.
Names	Space Transportation System-44
Mission type	DSP satellite deployment
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1991-080A
SATCAT no.	21795
Mission duration	6 days, 22 hours, 50 minutes, 43 seconds
Distance travelled	4,651,112 km (2,890,067 mi)
Orbits completed	110
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch mass	117,766 kg (259,630 lb)
Landing mass	87,919 kg (193,828 lb)
Payload mass	20,240 kg (44,620 lb)
Crew
Crew size	6
Members	Frederick D. Gregory ; Terence T. Henricks ; James S. Voss ; Story Musgrave ; Mario Runco Jr. ; Thomas J. Hennen ;
Start of mission
Launch date	November 24, 1991, 23:44:00 UTC (6:44 pm EST)
Launch site	Kennedy, LC-39A
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	December 1, 1991, 22:34:43 UTC (2:34:43 pm PST)
Landing site	Edwards, Runway 5
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	363 km (226 mi)
Apogee altitude	371 km (231 mi)
Inclination	28.45°
Period	91.90 minutes
Instruments
	Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS); Bioreactor Flow; Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM); Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project; Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO); Interim Operational Contamination Monitor (IOCM); Military Man in Space (M88-1); Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME III); Shuttle Activation Monitor (SAM); Terra-Scout; Visual Function Tester (VFT-1);
	; STS-44 mission patch; ; Standing: Voss, Hennen and Runco ; Seated: Henricks, Gregory and Musgrave Space Shuttle program ← STS-48 (43) STS-42 (45) →

Last updated February 24, 2025

STS-44 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission using Atlantis that launched on November 24, 1991. It was a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) space mission.

Crew


Position	Astronaut
Commander	Frederick D. Gregory Third and last spaceflight
Pilot	Terence T. Henricks First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1	James S. Voss First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2 Flight Engineer	Story Musgrave Fourth spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3	Mario Runco Jr. First spaceflight
Payload Specialist 1	Thomas J. Hennen Only spaceflight

Backup crew
Position	Astronaut
Payload Specialist 1	Michael E. Belt

Crew seat assignments

Seat^[1]	Launch	Landing	Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
1	Gregory
2	Henricks
3	Voss	Runco
4	Musgrave
5	Runco	Voss
6	Hennen
7	Unused

Mission highlights

Attempt	Planned	Result	Turnaround	Reason	Decision point	Weather go (%)	Notes
1	19 Nov 1991, 6:51:00 pm	Scrubbed	—	Technical	24 Nov 1991, 10:00 am (T−09:00:00)		Inertial measurement unit malfunction on IUS.
2	24 Nov 1991, 6:44:00 pm	Success	4 days 23 hours 53 minutes				T−9 minute hold extended for 13 minutes to fix a leaking Liquid Oxygen replenish valve and allow an orbiting spacecraft to pass over the launch site.^[2]

The launch was on November 24, 1991, at 23:44:00 UTC. A launch set for November 19, 1991, was delayed due to replacement and testing of a malfunctioning redundant inertial measurement unit on the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster attached to the Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite.^[3] The launch was reset for November 24 and was delayed by 13 minutes to allow an orbiting spacecraft to pass and to allow external tank liquid oxygen replenishment after minor repairs to a valve in the liquid oxygen replenishment system in the mobile launcher platform. Launch weight was 117,766 kilograms (259,630 lb).^[2]

The mission was dedicated to the Department of Defense. The unclassified payload included a Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite, DSP-16 attached to Inertial Upper Stage (IUS-14), deployed on flight day one. Cargo bay and middeck payloads included the Interim Operational Contamination Monitor (IOCM), Terra-Scout, Military Man in Space (M88-1), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS), Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM), Shuttle Activation Monitor (SAM), Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME III), Visual Function Tester (VFT-1), Bioreactor Flow, and Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project, a series of investigations in support of Extended Duration Orbiter. The Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPI) experiment was located onboard the previously-launched LACE satellite, and could've been pointed at Atlantis on-orbit to observe the shuttle's thruster firings. However, no opportunities or intersections occurred during this mission.^[4]

The landing was on December 1, 1991, at 22:34:44 UTC, Runway 5, Edwards Air Force Base, California. The rollout distance was 3,411 m (11,191 ft), and the rollout time was 107 seconds. The landing weight was 87,918 kg (193,826 lb). The landing was originally scheduled for Kennedy Space Center on December 4, 1991, but the ten-day mission was shortened and the landing rescheduled following the November 30, 1991, on-orbit failure of one of three orbiter inertial measurement units.^[5] The lengthy rollout was due to minimal braking for test. Atlantis returned to Kennedy on December 8, 1991. This was also the final shuttle landing on a dry lake bed runway.

Wake-up calls

NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Project Gemini, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15.^[6] Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.

Day	Song	Artist	Played/For
2	Recorded message from Patrick Stewart		Mario Runco
3	This Is the Army	Irving Berlin
4	It's Time to Love (Put a little love in your heart)	James Brown
5	Cheesburger in Paradise	Jimmy Buffett
6	Twist and Shout from Ferris Bueller's Day Off
7	University of Alabama and Auburn University fight songs		Jim Voss and Jan Davis
8	In the Mood

References

↑ "STS-44". Spacefacts. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
1 2 Legler, Robert D.; Bennett, Floyd V. (September 1, 2011). "Space Shuttle Missions Summary" (PDF). Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program Office. NASA. p. 51. NASA/TM–2011–216142. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
↑ "NASA POSTPONES ATLANTIS LAUNCH". Deseret News. November 19, 1991. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
↑ Fricke, Robert W. (January 1, 1992). STS-47 Space Shuttle Mission Report (PDF) (Report). Houston, Texas: Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company - National Aeronautics and Space Administration. p. 20. NASA-TM-108735. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
↑ "Shuttle Flight to Be Cut Short as Unit Fails: Mission Control favors landing at Edwards today if winds subside. Crew not considered in danger due to backup navigational devices". Los Angeles Times. December 1, 1991. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
↑ Fries, Colin. "Chronology of wakeup calls" (PDF). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

External links

NASA mission summary Archived May 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
STS-44 Post Flight Presentation

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "STS-44". Spacefacts. Retrieved February 26, 2014.

[STIsummary-2] 1 2 Legler, Robert D.; Bennett, Floyd V. (September 1, 2011). "Space Shuttle Missions Summary" (PDF). Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program Office. NASA. p. 51. NASA/TM–2011–216142. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

[3] "NASA POSTPONES ATLANTIS LAUNCH". Deseret News. November 19, 1991. Retrieved December 7, 2024.

[4] Fricke, Robert W. (January 1, 1992). STS-47 Space Shuttle Mission Report (PDF) (Report). Houston, Texas: Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company - National Aeronautics and Space Administration. p. 20. NASA-TM-108735. Retrieved February 11, 2024.

[5] "Shuttle Flight to Be Cut Short as Unit Fails: Mission Control favors landing at Edwards today if winds subside. Crew not considered in danger due to backup navigational devices". Los Angeles Times. December 1, 1991. Retrieved April 15, 2021.

[:0-6] Fries, Colin. "Chronology of wakeup calls" (PDF). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

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v t e Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104)
Completed flights	STS-51-J STS-61-B STS-27 STS-30 STS-34 STS-36 STS-38 STS-37 STS-43 STS-44 STS-45 STS-46 STS-66 STS-71 STS-74 STS-76 STS-79 STS-81 STS-84 STS-86 STS-101 STS-106 STS-98 STS-104 STS-110 STS-112 STS-115 STS-117 STS-122 STS-125 STS-129 STS-132 STS-135
Status	Retired
On display	Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Merritt Island, Florida

v t e ← 1990 Orbital launches in 1991 1992 →
January	NATO 4A Progress M-6 Italsat 1, Eutelsat-2 F2 Kosmos 2121 Kosmos 2122 Informator No.1
February	Kosmos 2123 Kosmos 2124 Kosmos 2125, Kosmos 2126, Kosmos 2127, Kosmos 2128, Kosmos 2129, Kosmos 2130, Kosmos 2131, Kosmos 2132 Kosmos 2133 Kosmos 2134 Molniya 1-80 Kosmos 2135 Gran' No.38L
March	Astra 1B, Meteosat 5 Kosmos 2136 USA-69 Inmarsat-2 F2 Nadezhda No.409 Progress M-7 Kosmos 2137 Molniya-3 No.55 Kosmos 2138 Almaz 1
April	Kosmos 2139, Kosmos 2140, Kosmos 2141 Anik E2 STS-37 (Compton GRO) ASC-2 Kosmos 2142 BS-3h Meteor-3 No.6 STS-39 (IBSS/SPAS (CRO-A, CRO-B, CRO-C), USA-70)
May	NOAA-12 Kosmos 2143, Kosmos 2144, Kosmos 2145, Kosmos 2146, Kosmos 2147, Kosmos 2148 Soyuz TM-12 Resurs-F2 No.6 Kosmos 2149 Satcom C5 Progress M-8
June	Okean-O1 No.6 STS-40 Kosmos 2150 Kosmos 2151 Molniya 1-81 Unnamed Resurs-F1 No.52 REX
July	Gorizont No.34L USA-71, Losat-X Kosmos 2152 Kosmos 2153 ERS-1, Orbcomm-X, SARA , Tubsat-A, UoSAT-5 Microsat 1, Microsat 2, Microsat 3, Microsat 4, Microsat 5, Microsat 6, Microsat 7 Resurs-F1 No.53
August	Molniya 1-82 STS-43 (TDRS-5) Intelsat VI F5 Meteor-3 No.5 Progress M-9 Resurs-F2 No.7 Kosmos 2154 Yuri 3b IRS-1B Yohkoh Unnamed
September	STS-48 (UARS) Kosmos 2155 Molniya-3 No.48 Kosmos 2156 Anik E1 Kosmos 2157, Kosmos 2158, Kosmos 2159, Kosmos 2160, Kosmos 2161, Kosmos 2162
October	Soyuz TM-13 Foton No.7L Kosmos 2163 Kosmos 2164 Progress M-10 Gorizont No.35L Intelsat VI F1
November	USA-72, USA-74, USA-76, USA-77 Kosmos 2165, Kosmos 2166, Kosmos 2167, Kosmos 2168, Kosmos 2169, Kosmos 2170 Kosmos 2171 Kosmos 2172 STS-44 (USA-75) Kosmos 2173 USA-73
December	Eutelsat-2 F3 Telecom 2A, Inmarsat-2 F3 Kosmos 2174 Interkosmos 25, Magion 3 Gran' No.39L Zhongxing-4
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).