STS-87 space shuttle mission: STS-87 space shuttle flight information, STS87 launch

STS-87 Columbia		88th Shuttle Mission
	Commander Kevin R. Kregel Pilot Steven W. Lindsey Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla Mission Specialist Winston E. Scott Mission Specialist Takao Doi (NASDA) Payload Specialist Leonid K. Kadenyuk (NSAU)

VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102 (24th flight)
KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: November 19, 1997 2:46:00 pm EST
KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: December 5, 1997 7:20:04 am EST
MISSION DURATION: 15 days, 16 hours, 34 minutes, 4 seconds
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 176 nautical miles/28.45 degrees
Cargo Bay Payloads: USMP-4, SPARTAN-201-04, LHP, TGDF, SOLSE, EDFT-05, OARE-10, GAS(G-744), NASBE, AERCam/Sprint, EDO
In-Cabin Payloads: MGBX-02, CUE
Other Systems and Experiments: AADSF, CHeX, IDGE, MEPHISTO, SAMS

December 5, 1997 - Commander Kevin Kregel and Pilot Steve Lindsey brought Columbia to a landing on Runway 3-3 at the Florida spaceport on the first opportunity at 7:20 a.m. EST to wrap up a 6 and a half million mile mission that began with launch from KSC back on November 19.

December 4, 1997 - NASA mission managers continue to be pleased with Columbia's on orbit performance as it approaches the conclusion of the STS-87 mission. Today the Shuttle flight crew will begin preparations for their return home.

Weather forecasters expect generally favorable weather conditions at KSC to support Shuttle landing operations on Friday morning. As a cold front pushes through the KSC area tonight, clouds will clear resulting in only scattered low clouds at landing time with surface winds out of the northwest at 12 knots, gusting to 16 knots. The two landing opportunities at KSC are at 7:23 a.m. and 8:58 a.m. EST. Edwards Air Force Base, CA, provides a single backup opportunity at 10:25 a.m. EST.

December 3, 1997 - Winston Scott and Takao Doi switched their suits to battery power at 4:09 a.m. EST, signaling the start of their second spacewalk.

The two astronauts watched as pilot Steve Lindsey remotely piloted a unique beachball-sized camera, AERCam/Sprint, around the payload bay to demonstrate its usefulness in providing an extra set of 'eyes' to perform remote inspections of the shuttle or future space stations.

The four-hour, fifty-nine-minute, forty-second spacewalk included testing a manual crane that will eventually make its way to the International Space Station and ended at 9:09 a.m. EST. This mission's two spacewalks are the first EVAs ever performed from Columbia, which has been mostly used as a carrier for Spacelab missions that have not included spacewalks.

December 2, 1997 - Astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi will exit Columbia's airlock at 4:16 a.m. EST for a four and a half-hour spacewalk that will repeat part of the crane operations, handling the smaller of the boxes which represent objects it will have to move during International Space Station assembly. The start of the spacewalk has been pushed back to allow the astronauts more time for their activities during the first part of the day.

Since 10 a.m. EST Tuesday, Columbia's crew has been living in a reduced cabin atmospheric pressure of 10.2 psi. This stepping down of the pressure from the normal 14.7 psi during a 16-hour period before the EVA reduces the pre-breathe time for Scott and Doi in their suits to just one hour.

December 1, 1997 - Mission managers decided to add a second spacewalk to this mission, giving astronauts and EVA designers more confidence in techniques that will be important to assembly of the International Space Station.

Another component of the second EVA will be checkout of the AERCam/Sprint flying video camera, which will be used during space station assembly and operations as a second point of view to observe work outside the station.

November 30, 1997 - Mission managers decided Sunday not to redeploy the solar-observing Spartan satellite. Lee Briscoe of Mission Operations reported that flight controllers had looked at as many as five different options for a second deployment of Spartan.

After a thorough review, mission managers decided that the risk of not being able to retrieve Spartan again was too great, that the adverse effects of such a deployment on the United States Microgravity Payload-4 science work were too extensive, and that steering jet propellant was insufficient to protect all possible contingencies and landing scenarios. The astronauts are again turning their attention to investigations on plant growth, combustion, and materials processing as they continue to support the U.S. Microgravity Payload.

November 29, 1997 - Middeck experiments will continue to look at how plant growth and composite materials are affected by microgravity. The astronauts will use the Middeck Globebox Facility to process samples for the Particle Engulfment and Pushing by a Solid/Liquid Interface experiment. PEP is studying the formation of composite materials, attempting to accurately map the roles of gravity-induced convection and sedimentation in the process by removing the gravity from the equation.

The United States Microgravity Payload-4 experiments continue to operate in the payload bay. The MEPHISTO team will send electrical pulses through its bismuth and tin sample, freezing the atoms at the point where liquid meets solid and showing the evolution of the specimen's shape. Another materials experiment, the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace, completed its 72-hour mercury-cadmium-telluride crystal growth period Saturday afternoon.

Payload Specialist Leonid Kadenyuk continued to work with the Collaborative Ukrainian Experiment studying plant growth in weightlessness. Students in the U.S. and Ukraine plan to compare their ground-based experiment results with those recorded by Kadenyuk on orbit.

November 26, 1997 - The microgravity science mission continued today. Mission specialist Kalpana Chawla turned her attention to the middeck glovebox apparatus known as PEP. The goal is to find better methods of creating composite materials for the automotive and aerospace industries.

Meanwhile, payload specialist Leonid Kadenyuk was also at work on the middeck, pollinating and harvesting plants in the Collaborative Ukrainian Experiment, a suite of 10 biology investigations into how plant growth and development processes are affected by the absence of gravity. Commander Kevin Kregel and pilot Steve Lindsey assisted their crewmates in monitoring all of the experiments on board, while seeing to the operation of Columbia and its systems.

Mission specialists Winston Scott and Takao Doi completed a questionnaire on their spacewalking experiences to get their impressions on record while the memories were fresh in their minds.

November 25, 1997 - After a successful capture of the Spartan satellite, NASA is contemplating a re-release of the satellite to salvage what they can of the Spartan mission. The scientific studies, including the United States Microgravity Payload science experiments and the Collaborative Ukrainian Experiment (CUE) continue.

November 24, 1997 - Shuttle astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi successfully retrieved the Spartan satellite while secured in foot restraints on either side of the payload bay. They reached out and grabbed the spacecraft with their hands, and lower it onto its berth in the payload bay. Mission managers in Houston chose this scenario because Scott and Doi had rehearsed grappling Spartan by hand, the difference being that they hadn't practiced grabbing a tumbling satellite.

November 23, 1997 - It has been decided to manually retrieve the Spartan satellite as part of a spacewalk by mission specialists Winston Scott and Takao Doi. Part of their routine premission spacewalk training was for just such a contingency. Doi and Scott will begin the spacewalk shortly after 7 p.m. EST Monday and Columbia will arrive in close proximity to Spartan at about 8 p.m. EST. The Spartan retrieval will require only about two hours of the six-hour spacewalk. During the remaining time available, most of the originally planned International Space Station assembly spacewalk tests will be performed. The satellite is in front of Columbia at a distance of about 23 nautical miles (about 42 kilometers).

November 22, 1997 - Mission managers and experts are meeting to formulate a plan for retrieval of the Spartan satellite following the apparent failure of its attitude control system to activate. Spartan officials say it appears that the small control jets failed to activate, leaving the satellite without the ability to orient itself.

The satellite is at a safe distance in front of Columbia of about 23 nautical miles (about 42 kilometers) and plans call for the crew to maintain the orbiter's distance to protect plans to rendezvous with the spacecraft on Monday to retrieve it either by mechanical arm or manually as part of a spacewalk by mission specialists Winston Scott and Takao Doi. As part of their routine pre-mission spacewalk training, the two astronauts trained for just such a contingency.

Meanwhile, the crew will spend the day checking out the Extravehicular Mobility Units, or spacesuits, and tools that will be used for Monday's spacewalk. The options for the spacewalk include retrieving the satellite and accomplishing as many of the activities that had been scheduled during the time available to test hardware and techniques that will be used on the International Space Station.

November 21, 1997 - TheSpartan satellite was deployed as scheduled at 4:04 p.m. EST. The deployment should have initiated an automatic command sequence, but it failed to respond as expected, so an attempt was made to grapple it and redeploy it. Although the grapple fixture made contact, it did not make a firm capture, and as the robot arm was moved away from the satellite, a slight bump initiated a tip-off.

After about an hour, it was decided that no more attempts to retrieve the satellite would be made today and that Columbia would move to a stationkeeping distance. Discussions are underway to figure out the best way to retrieve the Spartan. One possibility is for Scott and Doi to manually retrieve it during their EVA.

November 20, 1997 - It was decided that the Spartan satellite deploy would be delayed until Friday, but Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla put the shuttle's robot arm through a complete checkout in preparation for the deploy and retrieval operations. The deploy on Friday is now set for 4:03 p.m. EST with retrieval two days later just after 9 p.m. EST Sunday.

November 19, 1997 - The Space Shuttle Columbia launched on time from Pad 39B exactly 2:46:00 p.m. EST. The eighth and final Space Shuttle launch of 1997, Columbia's timely liftoff punctuated a year of successful, on-time Shuttle launches. KSC launch managers worked no major technical issues throughout the day's countdown activities.

A six-hour spacewalk is planned for 11/24/97, during which Mission Specialists Winston Scott and Takao Doi will practice assembly techniques to be used on the International Space Station.

The SRBs separated properly from the ET and descended in to the Atlantic under six good parachutes. The SRBs splashed down at the T+6 minute and 45 second mark. No damage was reported.

The United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-4) is a Spacelab project managed by Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama. The complement of microgravity research experiments is divided between two Mission-Peculiar Experiment Support Structures (MPESS) in the payload bay. The extended mission capability offered by the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) kit provides an opportunity for additional science gathering time.

Spartan 201-04 is a Solar Physics Spacecraft designed to perform remote sensing of the hot outer layers of the sun's atmosphere or corona. It is expected to be deployed on orbit 18 and retrieved on orbit 52. The objective of the observations are to investigate the mechanisms causing the heating of the solar corona and the acceleration of the solar wind which originates in the corona. Two primary experiments are the Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrometer from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and the White Light Coronograph (WLC) from the High Altitude Observatory. Spartan 201 has three secondary experiments. The Technology Experiment Augmenting Spartan (TEXAS) is a Radio Frequency (RF) communications experiment which will provide flight experience for components baselined on future Spartan missions, and a real time communications and control link with the primary Spartan 201 experiments. This link will be used to provide a fine pointing adjustment to the WLC based on solar images downlinked real time. The Video Guidance Sensor (VGS) Flight Experiment is a laser guidance system which will test a key component of the Automated Rendezvous and Capture (AR&C) system. The Spartan Auxiliary Mounting Plate (SPAM) is a small equipment mounting plate which will provide a mounting location for small experiments or auxiliary equipment of the Spartan Flight Support Structure (SFSS) It is a honeycomb plate using a experimental Silicon Carbide Aluminum face sheet material with an aluminum core.

The Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) test will advance thermal energy management technology and validating technology readiness for upcoming commercial spacecraft applications. The LHP will be operated with anhydros ammonia as the working fluid to transport thermal energy with high effective conductivity in zero gravity. LHP is a passive, two-phase flow heat transfer device that is capable of transporting up to 400 watts over a distance of 5 meters through semiflexible, small-diameter tubes. It uses capillary forces to circulate the two-phase working fluid. The system is self-priming and totally passive in operation. When heat is applied to the LHP evaporator, part of the working fluid vaporizes. The vapor flows through the vapor transport lines and condenses, releasing heat. The condense returns to the evaporator via capillary action through the liquid transport lines.

The Turbulent Gas Jet Diffusion Flames (TGDF) payload is a secondary payload that will use the standard Get-Away Special (GAS) carrier. It's purpose is to gain an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of transitional and turbulent gas jet diffusion flames under microgravity conditions and to acquire data that will aid in predicting the behavior of transitional and turbulent gas jet diffusion flames under normal and microgravity environments. TGDF will impose large-scale controlled disturbances on well-defined laminar microgravity diffusion flames. The will be on axisymmertic perturbations to laminar flames. The variables for the proposed tests will be the frequency of the disturbance mechanism which will be either 2.5 Hz, 5 Hz, or 7.5 Hz.

The objective of the Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment (SOLSE) is to determine the altitude distribution of ozone in an attempt to understand its behavior so that quantitative changes in the composition of our atmosphere can be predicted. SOLSE is intended to perform ozone distribution that a nadir instrument can achieve. This will be performed using Charged Coupled Device (CCD) technology to eliminate moving parts in a simpler, low cost, ozone mapping instrument. The experiment is housed in a Hitchhiker (HH/GAS) canister with canister extension ring and equipped with a Hitchhiker Motorized Door Assembly (HMDA). Instrumentation includes an Ultraviolet (UV) spectrograph with a CCD array detector, CCD array and visible light cameras, calibration lamp, optics and baffling. Once on orbit a crew member will active SOLSE which will perform limb and Earth viewing observations. Limb observations focuses on the region 20 km to 50 km altitude above the horizon for the Earth's surface. Earth viewing observations will enable SOLSE to correlate the data with other nadir viewing, ozone instruments.

The Extravehicular Activity Development Flight Test - 05 (EDFT-05) consists of the payload bay hardware elements of Detailed Test Objective (DTO) 671, EVA Hardware for Future Scheduled Extravehicular Missions. EDFT - 05's main objective is to demonstrate International Space Station (ISS) on-orbit, end-to-end EVA assembly and maintenance operations. The other DTO's included in this test are DTO 672, Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Electrical Cuff Checklist and DTO 833, EMU Thermal Comfort and EVA Worksite Thermal Environment. Another objective is to expand the EVA experience base for ground and flight crews. Two EVA's will be performed on this mission to accomplish these DTO's.

While flying separately in the cargo bay, the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE) is an integral part of USMP-04. It is a highly sensitive instrument designed to acquire and record data of low-level aerodynamic acceleration along the orbiter's principal axes in the free-molecular flow regime at orbital altitudes and in the transition regime during re-entry. OARE data will support advances in space materials processing by providing measurements of the low-level, low frequency disturbance environment affecting various microgravity experiments. OARE data will also support advances in orbital drag prediction technology by increasing the understanding of the fundamental flow phenomena in the upper atmosphere.

Get-Away Special (GAS G-744) payload is from Sierra College in Rocklin, California. The object of this experiment is to take ozone measurements of the Earth's upper atmosphere in the Ultraviolet (UV) 200 nanometer to 400 nanometer spectral range using a Charged Coupled Device (CCD) based spectrometer. A CCD photographic camera will also fly as part of the experiment and provide target verification for the spectrometer. The GAS carrier top plate will be modified to provide two optical ports for the instruments. The payload requires a minimum of two complete, continuous day passes. The spectrometer will autonomously begin taking data when the Earth is in the instrument field of view (FOV) as detected by UV intensity. Simultaneously, the photographic camera will image the area where data is being collected.

The Sodium Sulfur Battery Experiment (NaSBE) will characterize the performance of four 40 amp-hour sodium-sulfur battery cells. Each cell is comprised of a sodium anode, sulfur cathode, and solid ceramic sodium ion conducting electrolyte and separator. The cells must be heated to 350 degrees Celsius to liquefy the sodium and sulfur. Once the anode and cathode are liquefied, the cells will start to generate electrical power. Once on orbit a crewmember will active NaSBE and then controlled by the GSFC Payload Operations Control Center (POCC).

The Autonomous EVA Robotic Camera/Sprint (AERCam/Sprint) is a small, unobtrusive, free-flying camera platform for use outside a spacecraft. The free-flyer has a self contained cold gas propulsion system giving it the capability to be propelled with a 6 degrees of freedom control system. On board the free-flyer are rate sensors to provide data for an automatic attitude hold capability. AERCam/Sprint is a spherical vehicle that moves slowly and is covered in a soft cushioning material to prevent damage in the event of an impact. The design philosophy is to keep the energy low by keeping the velocities and mass low while providing a mechanism to absorb any energy from an impact. The free-flyer platform is controlled from inside the Orbiter by using a small control station. The operator will input motion commands from a single, Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) device controller. The commands will be sent from the control station to he free-flyer via a Radio Frequency (RF) modem link operating in the Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF) range.

The Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) Pallet is a 15 foot diameter cryo-kit wafer structure. Weighing 775 pounds, it provides support for tanks, associated control panels, and avionics equipment. The tanks store 368 pounds of liquid hydrogen at -418 degrees Fahrenheit, and 3,124 pounds of liquid oxygen at -285 degrees Fahrenheit. Total empty weight of the system is 3,571 pounds. When filled with cryogens, system weight is approximately 7,000 pounds. Oxygen and hydrogen are supplied to the orbiter's three electrical power generating fuel cells, where they are converted into sufficient electrical energy to support the average 4 family-member house for approximately 6 months. About 3,000 pounds of pure drinking water is also produced by the fuel cells. With the EDO pallet, the orbiter can support a flight for a maximum of 18 days. Longer on-orbit missions benefit microgravity research, Life Sciences research, Earth and celestial observations, human adaptation to the zero-G environment, and support to the Space Station.

The Middeck Glove Box (MGBX) is a facility designed for materials science and biological science experiment handling. It consists of two primary systems; an Interface Frame (IF) and a Glovebox (GB). The MGBX facility (with associated electronics) provides an enclosed working area for experiment manipulation and observation on the shuttle middeck. The MGBX experiments on this flight are: WCI - The objective of the Wetting Characteristics of Immiscibles is to investigate the influence of alloy/ampoule wetting characteristics on the segregation of immiscible liquids during microgravity processing. The Enclosed Laminar Flames (ELF) experiment objective is to validate the zero-gravity Burke-Schumann model and the gravity-dependent Hegde-Bahadori extension of the model, investigate the importance of the buoyancy-dependent flowfield as affected by oxidizer flow on flame stabilization, examine the state relationships of co-flow diffusion flames under the influence of buoyancy conditions (gravity versus pressure), and study the flow vortex and diffusion flame interactions. The Particle Engulfment and Pushing by Solidifying Interfaces (PEP) experiment objectives will be to generate an accurate value for the critical velocity in a convection-free environment, validate present theoretical model, enhance fundamental understanding of dynamics of insoluble particles at liquid/solid interfaces, and improve understanding of physics associated with solidification of liquid metals-ceramic particles mixtures.

The Collaborative Ukraine Experiment (CUE) is a middeck payload designed to study the effects of microgravity on plant growth. The CUE is composed of a group of experiments that will be flown in the Plant Growth Facility (PGF) and in the Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC). The experiments also require the use of a Gaseous Nitrogen (GN2) Freezer and the fixation hardware. Investigators in Ukraine and the United States selected the experiments as a model for scientific collaboration between the two countries. The PGF will support plant growth for up to 30 days by providing acceptable environmental conditions for normal plant growth. The PGF is composed of the following subsystems: Control and Data Management Subsystems (CDMS), Fluorescent Light Module (FLM), Atmospheric Control Module (ACM), Plant Growth Chambers (PGCs), Support Structure Assembly (SSA), and the Generic External Shell (GES). The complete PGF will replace on middeck locker and operates on 28 V direct current (dc) power. The plant specimen to be studied in the PGF is Brassica rapa (turnip).

The Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF) is a sophisticated materials science facility used for studying a common method of processing semiconductor crystals called directional solidification. Solidification is the process of freezing materials. In the type of directional solidification to be used in AADSF, the liquid sample, enclosed in quartz ampoules, will be slowly solidified along the long axis. A mechanism will move the sample through varying temperature zones in the furnace. To start processing, the furnace melts all but one end of the sample towards the other. Once crystallized, the sample remains in the furnace to be examined post-flight. The solidification front is of particular interest to scientists because the flows found in the liquid material influence the final composition and structure of the solid and its properties.

The Confined Helium Experiment (CHeX) provides a test of theories of the influence of boundaries on matter by measuring the heat capacity of helium as it is confined to two dimensions.

The Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) is a materials science solidification experiment that researchers will use to investigate a particular type of solidification called dendritic growth. Dendritic solidification is one of the most common forms of solidifying metals and alloys. When materials crystallize or solidify under certain condition, the freeze unstably, resulting in tiny, tree-like crystalline forms called dendrites. Scientist are particularly interested in dendrite size, shape, and how the branches of the dendrites interact with each other. These characteristics largely determine the properties of the material.

Designed for research on the directional solidification of metallic alloys, the Material pour l'Etude des Phenomes Interssant las Solidification sur Terre et en Orbite (MEPHISTO) experiment is primarily interested in measuring the temperature, velocity, and shape of the solidification front (the point where the solid and liquid contact each other during solidification.) MEPHISTO simultaneously processes three identical cylindrical samples of bismuth and tin alloy. In the first sample, the temperature fluctuations of the moving solidification are measured electrically, with disturbing the sample. The position of the solid to liquid border is determined by an electrical resistance technique in the second sample. In the third sample, the faceted solidification front is marked at selected intervals with electric current pulses. The samples are returned to Earth for analysis. During the mission, MEPHISTO data will be correlated with data from the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS). By comparing data, scientists can determine how accelerations aboard the shuttle disturb the solid to liquid interface.

The Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS), sponsored by Lewis Research Center, is a microprocessor-driven data acquisition system designed to measure and record the microgravity acceleration environment of the USMP carrier. The SAMS has three triaxial sensor heads that are separate from the electronics package for remote positioning. In operation, the triaxial sensor head produces output signals in response to acceleration inputs. The signals are amplified, filtered, and converted into digital data. The digital acceleration data is transferred to optical disk memory for ground analysis. Each accelerometer has a mass suspended by a quartz element is such a manner to allow movement along one axis only. A coil is attached to the mass and the assembly is placed between two permanent magnets. An applied acceleration displaces the mass form its resting position. This movement is sensed by a detector, causing SAMS electronics to send a voltage to the coil, producing exactly the magnetic field needed to restore the mass to its original position. The applied voltage is proportional to the applied acceleration and is output to the SAMS electronics as acceleration data.

Home, Hale-Bopp, Space Memorabilia, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Books, Space History, NASA Spinoffs, Past shuttle, Present shuttle, Future shuttle, SETI, Space Links, FAQ, Ordering Info

questions/comments
or
call 407-454-4236.

Please vote for us!	We rated 5 Stars!		Thank you for voting. This site is a winner!
See more of our awards on the Awards/Testimonials page