.jpg) Components of theATLAS-2 laboratory in the payload bay ofDiscovery | |
| Names | Space Transportation System-56 |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Scientific research |
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1993-023A |
| SATCATno. | 22621 |
| Mission duration | 9 days, 6 hours, 8 minutes, 19 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 6,202,407 km (3,853,997 mi) |
| Orbits completed | 148 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Discovery |
| Landing mass | 93,683 kg (206,536 lb) |
| Payload mass | 7,026 kg (15,490 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 5 |
| Members | |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | April 8, 1993, 05:29:00 (1993-04-08UTC05:29Z) UTC (1:29 am EDT) |
| Launch site | Kennedy,LC-39B |
| Contractor | Rockwell International |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | April 17, 1993, 11:37:19 (1993-04-17UTC11:37:20Z) UTC (7:37:19 am EDT) |
| Landing site | Kennedy,SLF Runway 33 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Periapsis altitude | 291 km (181 mi) |
| Apoapsis altitude | 299 km (186 mi) |
| Inclination | 57.00° |
| Period | 90.40 minutes |
| Instruments | |
| |
 STS-56 mission patch  Standing:Cockrell,Foale,Ochoa Seated:Oswald,Cameron | |
STS-56 was aNASASpace ShuttleDiscovery mission to perform special experiments. It was Discovery's 16th flight. The mission was launched fromKennedy Space Center,Florida, on April 8, 1993.
| Position | Astronaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Kenneth D. CameronSecond spaceflight | |
| Pilot | Stephen S. Oswald Second spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 1 | / Michael FoaleSecond spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 2 Flight Engineer | Kenneth Cockrell First spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 3 | Ellen Ochoa First spaceflight | |
| Seat[1] | Launch | Landing |  Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cameron | ||
| 2 | Oswald | ||
| 3 | Foale | Ochoa | |
| 4 | Cockrell | ||
| 5 | Ochoa | Foale | |
| 6 | Unused | ||
| 7 | Unused | ||
| Attempt | Planned | Result | Turnaround | Reason | Decision point | Weather go (%) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 Apr 1993, 2:32:00 am | Scrubbed | — | Technical | 6 Apr 1993, 2:31 am (T−00:00:11) | 80[2] | T−9 minute hold extended for one hour due to high temperatures onSSME 1.[3]: 2 The launch was scrubbed when a liquid hydrogen bleed valve was indicated as open when it was actually closed as required.[4] The erroneous indication was caused by a faulty relay.[5] |
| 2 | 8 Apr 1993, 1:29:00 am | Success | 1 day 22 hours 57 minutes | 90[6] | Flash evaporator system shut down four minutes into flight, but was manually restarted by the crew.[3]: 2 |
The primary payload of the flight was theAtmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-2 (ATLAS-2),[3]: 1 designed to collect data on the relationship between theSun's energy output andEarth's middle atmosphere and how these factors affect theozone layer. It included six instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet in the cargo bay, with the seventh mounted on the wall of the bay in twoGet Away Special (GAS) canisters. Atmospheric instruments included the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) experiment, the Millimeter Wave Atmospheric Sounder (MAS), and the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV/A) spectrometer (on the cargo bay wall). Solar science instruments were the solar spectrometry instrument SOLSPEC,[7] the Solar Ultraviolet Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM), and the Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR) and Solar Constant (SOLCON) experiments.[4]
ATLAS-2 is one element of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program. All seven ATLAS-2 instruments first flew onATLAS-1 duringSTS-45, and flew a third time in late 1994 onSTS-66.[4]
On April 11, 1993, the crew used the remote manipulator arm (Canadarm) to deploy the Shuttle Point Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-201 (SPARTAN-201), a free-flying science instrument platform designed to study velocity and acceleration of thesolar wind and observe theSun's corona. Collected data was stored on tape for playback after return to Earth. SPARTAN-201 was retrieved on April 13, 1993.[4]
The crew also made numerous radio contacts to schools around the world using the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX II), including brief radio contact with theRussianMir space station, the first such contact between Space Shuttle and Mir using amateur radio equipment.[8]
Other cargo bay payloads were the Solar Ultraviolet Experiment (SUVE), sponsored byColorado Space Grant Consortium and located in a GetAway Special canister on the cargo bay wall.[4]
The middeck payloads were the Commercial Materials Dispersion Apparatus Instrumentation Technology Associates Experiment (CMIX), the Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE), Space Tissue Loss (STL-1) experiment, the Cosmic Ray Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM) experiment. the Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting and Environmental System (HERCULES), Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME III), and anAir Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) calibration test.[4]
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.Space ShuttleDiscovery (OV-103) | ||
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