STS-45

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STS-45
STS-45 payload.jpg
Components of the ATLAS-1 laboratory in the payload bay of Atlantis
Names Space Transportation System-45
Mission type ATLAS-1 astronomy research
Operator NASA
COSPAR ID 1992-015A OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
SATCAT no. 21915 OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Mission duration8 days, 22 hours, 9 minutes, 27 seconds
Distance travelled5,211,340 km (3,238,180 mi)
Orbits completed143
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch mass105,982 kg (233,650 lb)
Landing mass93,009 kg (205,050 lb)
Payload mass9,947 kg (21,929 lb)
Crew
Crew size7
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateMarch 24, 1992, 13:13:39 (1992-03-24UTC13:13:39Z)  UTC (8:13:39 am  EST)
Launch site Kennedy, LC-39A
Contractor Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing dateApril 2, 1992, 11:23:06 (1992-04-02UTC11:23:07Z) UTC (6:23:06 am EST)
Landing siteKennedy, SLF Runway 33
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric orbit
Regime Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude 282 km (175 mi)
Apogee altitude 294 km (183 mi)
Inclination 57.00°
Period 90.30 minutes
Instruments
  • Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR)
  • Atmospheric Emissions Photometric Imager (AEPI)
  • Atmospheric Lyman-Alpha Emissions (ALAE)
  • Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS)
  • Far Ultraviolet Space Telescope (FAUST)
  • Grille Spectrometer
  • Imaging Spectrometric Observatory (ISO)
  • Millimeter Wave Atmospheric Sounder (MAS)
  • Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators (SEPAC)
  • Measurement of Solar Constant (SOLCON)
  • Solar Spectrum (SOLSPEC])
  • Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM)
Sts-45-patch.png
STS-45 mission patch
Sts-45 crew.jpg
Standing: Lichtenberg, Foale, Leestma, Sullivan and Frimout
Seated: Duffy and Bolden
  STS-42 (45)
STS-49 (47) 

STS-45 was a 1992 NASA Space Shuttle mission using the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Its almost nine-day scientific mission was with a non-deployable payload of instruments. It was the 46th Space Shuttle mission and the 11th for Atlantis.

Contents

Crew

Position Astronaut
Commander Flag of the United States.svg Charles Bolden Solid blue.svg
Third spaceflight
Pilot Flag of the United States.svg Brian Duffy Solid blue.svg
First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1 Flag of the United States.svg Kathryn D. Sullivan Solid blue.svg
Third and last spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2
Flight Engineer
Flag of the United States.svg David Leestma Solid red.svg
Third and last spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3 Flag of the United States.svg / Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Michael Foale Solid red.svg
First spaceflight
Payload Specialist 1 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Dirk Frimout, ESA Solid blue.svg
Only spaceflight
Payload Specialist 2 Flag of the United States.svg Byron K. Lichtenberg Solid red.svg
Second and last spaceflight
Solid blue.svg Member of Blue Team
Solid red.svg Member of Red Team
Backup crew
Position Astronaut
Payload Specialist 1 Flag of the United States.svg Michael L. Lampton
Payload Specialist 2 Flag of the United States.svg Charles R. Chappell

The astronauts were divided into a red team and a blue team to allow around-the-clock monitoring of experiments.

Crew seat assignments

Seat [1] LaunchLanding Space Shuttle seating plan.svg
Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.
Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
1Bolden
2Duffy
3SullivanFoale
4Leestma
5FoaleSullivan
6Frimout
7Lichtenberg

Mission highlights

Atlantis was launched on March 24, 1992, at 8:13 a.m. EST. The launch was originally scheduled for March 23, 1992, but was delayed by one day because of higher-than-allowable concentrations of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the orbiter's aft compartment during tanking operations. During troubleshooting, the leaks could not be reproduced, leading engineers to believe that they were the result of plumbing in the main propulsion system not thermally conditioned to the cryogenic propellants; the launch was rescheduled for March 24, 1992. Atlantis weighed 105,982 kg (233,650 lb) at launch.

STS-45 carried the first Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-1) experiments, placed on Spacelab pallets mounted in the orbiter's payload bay. The non-deployable payload, equipped with 12 instruments from the United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Japan, conducted studies in atmospheric chemistry, solar radiation, space plasma physics and ultraviolet astronomy. ATLAS-1 instruments included the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS); Grille Spectrometer; Millimeter Wave Atmospheric Sounder (MAS); Imaging Spectrometric Observatory (ISO); Atmospheric Lyman-Alpha Emissions (ALAE); Atmospheric Emissions Photometric Imager (AEPI); Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators (SEPAC); Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR); Measurement of Solar Constant (SOLCON); Solar Spectrum; [2] Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM); and Far Ultraviolet Space Telescope (FAUST). Other payloads included the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment, a Get Away Special (GAS) experiment and six mid-deck experiments.

The mission was extended by a day in order to continue science experiments. The landing occurred on April 2, 1992, 6:23 a.m. EST, on Runway 33 of the Shuttle Landing Facility, located at the Kennedy Space Center. The rollout distance was 2,812 m (9,226 ft) and Atlantis weighed 93,005 kg (205,041 lb) on landing.

Mission insignia

The mission insignia covers all aspects of the flight, by featuring Earth and the Sun, and the orbiter on high inclination, as to illustrate the high importance of the mission. The names of all flying members are included in the band, separated by stars. In the 'ring' at the bottom right, a single star is included, separating the unmentioned names of the alternate mission specialists, who are therefore indirectly included; a first and unique tribute to a support crew. Dirk Frimout is the first Belgian citizen to fly into space, and the only one to fly on a Space Shuttle (the other is Frank De Winne (who flies to the International Space Station via Soyuz as mission commander), as the Space Shuttle program was terminated at the time of the latter's flight), but to keep the focus on the mission, no national flag is added nor the customary logo of the European Space Agency (ESA), but the mission main objective, ATLAS, is included below instead.

See also

References

  1. "STS-45". Spacefacts. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  2. "Background". SOLSPEC. Institut Pierre Simon Laplace. Retrieved March 26, 2022.