Missions: STS-95 SPACEHAB Salutes John Glenn
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STS-95 saw the return to space of former Mercury astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn. During the mission, the crew performed a number of experiments within the SPACEHAB module including tests sponsored by NASA and the National Institute on Aging.
CREW:
Pedro Duque, Mission Specialist (ESA); Chiaki Mukai, Payload Specialist (NASDA); Steve Lindsey, Pilot; Curt Brown, Commander; Scott Parazynski, Mission Specialist; Steve Robinson, Mission Specialist; John Glenn, Payload Specialist
LAUNCH INFO:
Date: Oct. 29, 1998
Time: 2:00 p.m. EST
Site: Kennedy Space Center, FL
SHUTTLE FLIGHT:
Orbiter: Discovery (OV-103)
Orbit Altitude: 300 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: 28.45°
Mission Duration: 10 Days, 4 hours, 55 mins
LANDING INFO:
Date: Nov. 7, 1998
Time: 12:04 p.m. EST
Site: Kennedy Space Center, FL
PAYLOAD(S):
SPAEHAB-SM Single Module (FU1)
SPARTAN-201 Spartan-201
HOST HST Orbital Systems Test
IEH International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker
MISSION PATCH:
Space Shuttle Discovery flew Mission STS-95 from 29 October to 8 November 1998. The primary objectives of this flight included conducting a variety of science experiments which were carried in the pressurized SPACEHAB module, the deployment and retrieval of the Spartan free-flyer payload, and operations with the HST Orbiting Systems Test (HOST) and the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH) payloads which were carried in the payload bay.
The STS-95 crew was commanded by Curt Brown; this was his fifth Shuttle flight. This was also the second flight for the pilot, Steve Lindsey. Three mission specialists were assigned to this flight -- Scott Parazynski, making his third flight, Steve Robinson, making his second flight and Pedro Duque from the European Space Agency (ESA); STS-95 was his first flight. The two payload specialist on STS-95 were Chiaki Mukai, from the Japanese Space Agency (NASDA), on her second flight and John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth during his Mercury capsule flight in 1962. This was Glenn's second flight.
The SPACEHAB module flown on STS-95 provides additional pressurized workspace for experiments, cargo and crew activities. SPACEHAB modules have supported various Shuttle science missions along with most of the joint Shuttle-Mir missions.
The SPACEHAB module flew in the forward portion of Discovery's payload bay with the crew gaining access to the module through the airlock tunnel system. A variety of experiments sponsored by NASA, the Japanese Space Agency (NASDA) and the European Space Agency focused on life sciences, microgravity sciences and advanced technology during the flight. The Spartan 201 free-flyer was deployed and retrieved using the Shuttle's mechanical arm; it was designed to investigate physical conditions and processes of the hot outer layers of the Sun's atmosphere, or solar corona. While deployed from the Shuttle, Spartan gathered measurements of the solar corona and solar wind. Information collected during this mission will lead to a better understanding of the solar winds that directly influence orbiting satellites and weather conditions on Earth, which in turn impact television and phone communications. This is a reflight of the Spartan payload flown on Mission STS-87 in November 1997 which developed problems shortly after being deployed from the Shuttle.
The Hubble Space Telescope Orbiting Systems Test (HOST) platform carried experiments to validate components planned for installation during the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and to evaluate new technologies in an earth orbiting environment. There were four experiments on the HOST platform; (1)The NICMOS Cooling System allowed zero-g verification of a Reverse Turbo Brayton Cycle Cooler, which should allow longer life operation than the current dewar system; (2) The HST 486 computer allowed the identification of any radiation susceptible parts in the DF-224 replacement and demonstrate hardware and software responses to Single Event Upsets (SEU's); (3) Solid State Recorder compared on-orbit operation of the flight spare solid state recorder with the current HST unit; (4) Fiber Optic Line Test used the same 4 kbps data stream that is sent to the orbiter's Payload Data Interrogator (PDI) and was routed to a laptop computer for post-flight comparison. The International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH) payload involved a half dozen different experiments mounted on a support structure being carried in Discovery's payload bay. The six experiments that made up the IEH payload are; (1) Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (SEH) payload that obtained EUV and FUV fluxes that are required when studying the Earth's upper atmosphere; (2) Ultraviolet Spectrograph Telescope for Astronomical Research (UVSTAR) payload designed to measures EUV fluxes which can be used to form images of extended plasma sources (ex. Jupiter, hot stars, etc.); (3) STAR-LITE payload which made observations of extended and diffused astrophysical targets; (4) CONCAP-IV payload designed to grow thin films via physical vapor transport; (5) Petite Amateur Navy Satellite (PANSAT) payload which is managed by the Department of Defense Space Test Program and involves a small deployable satellite that stored and transmitted digital communications to PANSAT ground stations; and (6) a Get-Away Special (GAS) payload.
Since the aging process and a space flight experience share a number of similar physiological responses, a series of experiments sponsored by NASA and the National Institute on Aging were conducted during the STS-95 mission. The investigations gathered information that may provide a model system to help scientists interested in understanding aging. Some of these similarities include bone and muscle loss, balance disorders and sleep disturbances. Space biomedical researchers and gerontologists believe more research in these areas could help older people live more productive and active lives, and could reduce the number of individuals requiring long-term medical care in their later years.
STS-95 was the 25th flight of Space Shuttle Discovery and the 94th mission flown since the start of the Space Shuttle program in April 1981.
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