Names | Space Transportation System-52 |
---|---|
Mission type | LAGEOS 2 satellite deployment Microgravity research |
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1992-070A |
SATCAT no. | 22194 |
Mission duration | 9 days, 20 hours, 56 minutes, 13 seconds |
Distance travelled | 6,645,026 km (4,129,028 mi) |
Orbits completed | 159 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Columbia |
Launch mass | 113,460 kg (250,140 lb) |
Landing mass | 97,574 kg (215,114 lb) [1] |
Payload mass | 8,078 kg (17,809 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 6 |
Members | |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | October 22, 1992, 17:09:39 UTC (1:09:39 pm EDT) [2] |
Launch site | Kennedy, LC-39B |
Contractor | Rockwell International |
End of mission | |
Landing date | November 1, 1992, 14:05:53 UTC (9:05:53 am EST) |
Landing site | Kennedy, SLF Runway 33 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit [2] |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 300 km (190 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 302 km (188 mi) |
Inclination | 28.45° |
Period | 90.60 minutes |
Instruments | |
| |
STS-52 mission patch Back: Baker, Wetherbee and MacLean Front: Veach, Jernigan and Shepherd |
STS-52 was a Space Transportation System (NASA Space Shuttle) mission using Space Shuttle Columbia, and was launched on October 22, 1992. [3]
Position | Astronaut [4] | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Jim Wetherbee Second spaceflight | |
Pilot | Michael A. Baker Second spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 1 | Charles L. Veach Second and last spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 2 Flight Engineer | William Shepherd Third spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 3 | Tamara E. Jernigan Second spaceflight | |
Payload Specialist 1 | Steve MacLean, CSA First spaceflight |
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Payload Specialist 1 | Bjarni Tryggvason, CSA |
Seat [5] | Launch | Landing | Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck. |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Wetherbee | ||
2 | Baker | ||
3 | Veach | Jernigan | |
4 | Shepherd | ||
5 | Jernigan | Veach | |
6 | MacLean | ||
7 | Unused |
Primary mission objectives were deployment of the Laser Geodynamics Satellite 2 (LAGEOS-2) and operation of the U.S. Microgravity Payload-1 (USMP-1). LAGEOS 2, a joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), was deployed on day 2 and boosted into an initial elliptical orbit by ASI's Italian Research Interim Stage (IRIS). The spacecraft's apogee kick motor later circularized LAGEOS 2 orbit at its operational altitude of 5,900 km (3,700 mi). The USMP-1, activated on day one, included three experiments mounted on two connected Mission Peculiar Equipment Support Structures (MPESS) mounted in the orbiter's cargo bay. USMP-1 experiments were: Lambda Point Experiment; Matériel pour l'Étude des Phénomènes Intéressant la Solidification sur eT en Orbite (MEPHISTO), [6] sponsored by the French agency Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES); and Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS). [3]
Secondary payloads: (1) Canadian experiment (CANEX-2), located in both the orbiter's cargo bay and middeck and which consisted of Space Vision System (SVS); Materials Exposure in Low-Earth Orbit (MELEO); Queen's University Experiment in Liquid-Metal Diffusion (QUELD); Phase Partitioning in Liquids (PARLIQ); Sun Photospectrometre Earth Atmosphere Measurement-2 (SPEAM-2); Orbiter Glow-2 (OGLOW-2); and Space Adaptation Tests and Observations (SATO). [7] A small, specially marked satellite, the Canadian Target Assembly (CTA), was deployed on day nine, to support SVS experiments. (2) ASP, featuring three independent sensors mounted on a Hitchhiker plate in the cargo bay – Modular Star Sensor (MOSS), Yaw Earth Sensor (YES) and Low Altitude Conical Earth Sensor (LACES), all provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). [8]
Other middeck payloads: Commercial Materials Dispersion Apparatus Instrument Technology Associates Experiments; Commercial Protein Crystal Growth experiment; Chemical Vapor Transport Experiment Heat Pipe Performance Experiment (CVTEHPPE); Physiological Systems Experiment (PSE) (involving 12 rodents); and Shuttle Plume Impingement Experiment (SPIE). The orbiter also was used as a reference point for calibrating an Ultraviolet Plume Instrument on an orbiting Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) satellite. [9]
The Tank Pressure Control Experiment/Thermal Phenomena (TPCE/TP) was contained in a Getaway Special (GAS) canister in the orbiter's cargo bay. [10]
Some of the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry were also carried aboard the orbiter for the duration of the mission. [11]
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. A special musical track is chosen for each day in space, often by the astronauts' families, to have a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or in reference to the day's planned activities. [12]
Day | Song | Artist/Composer | Played For |
---|---|---|---|
Day 2 | Wake Up Columbia | Crow Carroll | |
Day 3 | Shake, Rattle and Roll | Big Joe Turner | Deployment of LAGEOS-II |
Day 5 | The World is Waiting for the Sunrise | Les Paul and Mary Ford | |
Day 6 | Birthday | The Beatles | Mike Baker's 39th Birthday |
Day 7 | "Hawaiian music" | ||
Day 8 | Mack the Knife | Bobby Darin | |
Day 9 | Bang the Drum | Todd Rundgren | |
Day 10 | Monster Mash | Bobby "Boris" Picket | To celebrate Halloween |
Day 11 | Notre Dame Victory March | JSC employees & Notre Dame grads | James Wetherbee |
STS-51-F was the 19th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on July 29, 1985, and landed eight days later on August 6, 1985.
Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, and other related hardware housed in the Shuttle's cargo bay. The components were arranged in various configurations to meet the needs of each spaceflight.
STS-75 was a 1996 NASA Space Shuttle mission, the 19th mission of the Columbia orbiter.
James Donald "Wxb" Wetherbee, is a retired United States Navy officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six Space Shuttle missions and is the only American to have commanded five spaceflight missions.
Marsha Sue Ivins is an American retired astronaut and a veteran of five Space Shuttle missions.
STS-42 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission with the Spacelab module. Liftoff was originally scheduled for 8:45 EST on January 22, 1992, but the launch was delayed due to weather constraints. Discovery successfully lifted off an hour later at 9:52:33 EST. The main goal of the mission was to study the effects of microgravity on a variety of organisms. The shuttle landed at 8:07:17 PST on January 30, 1992, on Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, California. STS-42 was the first of two flights in 1992 of Discovery, the second of which occurred during STS-53, which launched on December 2, 1992. The mission was also the last mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery to have a seven-member crew until STS-82, which was launched on February 11, 1997.
STS-53 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission in support of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). The mission was launched on December 2, 1992, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This was also the last mission to have been operated via MCR-2 in JSC. Afterwards the room was restored entirely to its Apollo era appearance.
STS-54 was a NASA Space Transportation System mission using Space Shuttle Endeavour. This was the third flight for Endeavour, and was launched on January 13, 1993 with Endeavour returning to the Kennedy Space Center on January 19, 1993.
STS-56 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission to perform special experiments. The mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 8, 1993.
STS-62 was a Space Shuttle program mission flown aboard Space ShuttleColumbia. The primary payloads were the USMP-02 microgravity experiments package and the OAST-2 engineering and technology payload, both in the orbiter's cargo bay. The two-week mission also featured a number of biomedical experiments focusing on the effects of long duration spaceflight. The landing was chronicled by the 1994 Discovery Channel special about the Space Shuttle program and served as the show's opening. A C.F. Martin backpacker guitar was also flown aboard Columbia during the mission.
STS-76 was NASA's 76th Space Shuttle mission, and the 16th mission for Atlantis. STS-76 launched on 22 March 1996 at 08:13:04 UTC from Kennedy Space Center, launch pad 39B. STS-76 lasted over 9 days, traveled about 6,100,000 km (3,800,000 mi) while orbiting Earth an estimated 145 times, and landing at 13:28:57 UTC on 31 March 1996 at Edwards Air Force Base, runway 22.
STS-83 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission flown by Columbia. It was a science research mission that achieved orbit successfully, but the planned duration was a failure due to a technical problem with a fuel cell that resulted in the abort of the 15 day duration. Columbia returned to Earth just shy of four days. The mission was re-flown as STS-94 with the same crew later that year.
STS-87 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from Launch Complex 39B of the Kennedy Space Center on 19 November 1997. It was the 88th flight of the Space Shuttle and the 24th flight of Columbia. The mission goals were to conduct experiments using the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-4), conduct two EVAs, and deploy the SPARTAN-201 experiment. This mission marked the first time an EVA was performed from Columbia. EVAs from Columbia were originally planned for STS-5 in 1982 and STS-80 in 1996, but were canceled due to spacesuit and airlock problems, respectively. It also marked the first EVA conducted by a Japanese astronaut, Takao Doi.
Michael Allen Baker is a retired captain in the United States Navy, former NASA astronaut, and the International Space Station Program Manager for International and Crew Operations, at NASA's Johnson Space Center. He is responsible for the coordination of program operations, integration and flight crew training and support activities with the International Partners.
Linda Maxine Godwin is an American scientist and retired NASA astronaut. Godwin joined NASA in 1980 and became an astronaut in July 1986. She retired in 2010. During her career, Godwin completed four space flights and logged over 38 days in space. Godwin also served as the assistant to the director for exploration, Flight Crew Operations Directorate at the Johnson Space Center. Since retiring from NASA, she accepted the position of professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri.
Charles Lacy Veach was a United States Air Force (USAF) fighter pilot and NASA astronaut.
Peter Jeffrey Kelsay Wisoff is an American physicist and former NASA astronaut. Wisoff qualified as mission specialist and flew in four Space Shuttle missions, with his first launch in 1993 and his last in 2000.
STS-135 was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter Atlantis and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 launched on July 8, 2011, and landed on July 21, 2011, following a one-day mission extension. The four-person crew was the smallest of any shuttle mission since STS-6 in April 1983. The mission's primary cargo was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Raffaello and a Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC), which were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS). The flight of Raffaello marked the only time that Atlantis carried an MPLM.
NASA Astronaut Group 10 was a group of 17 astronauts that were announced on May 23, 1984 and consisted of seven pilots and ten mission specialists. Although selected in 1984, no member of the group would fly until 1988 due to the Challenger disaster and the resulting grounding of the Space Shuttle fleet.
NASA Astronaut Group 11 was a group of 13 NASA astronauts announced on 4 June 1985.
...Columbia also carried to space ashes of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry