STS-90 space shuttle mission: STS-90 space shuttle flight information, STS90 launch history

STS-90 Columbia		90th Shuttle Mission
	Commander Richard A. Searfoss Pilot Scott D. Altman Mission Specialist Richard M. Linnehan DVM Mission Specialist Dafydd Rhys Williams MD Mission Specialist Kathryn P. Hire Payload Specialist Jay C. Buckey Payload Specialist James A. Pawelczyk

VEHICLE: Columbia /OV-102 (25th flight)
LAUNCH PAD: 39B
KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: April 17, 1998 2:19 p.m. EDT
LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours, 30 minutes
KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: May 3, 1998 12:08:59 p.m. EDT
MISSION DURATION: 15 days, 21 hours, 49 min, 59 sec
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 154 x 137 n.m./39 degrees
Cargo Bay Payloads: Neurolab, GAS(G-197,G-467)
In-Cabin Payloads: TBD

May 3, 1998 - Columbia, piloted by Commander Rick Searfoss and Pilot Scott Altman, made a picture-perfect landing at KSC at 12:09 p.m. EDT this afternoon. Columbia's landing brought to an end the second shuttle mission of the year, the 90th in shuttle program history and the final scheduled flight of the Spacelab science module in which Columbia's astronauts conducted their research. Spacelab served as a science platform for Shuttle-based research over the past 15 years.

It was the 14th consecutive landing for shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center and the 21st in the last 22 missions.

May 2, 1998 - With all science activities complete on board, Columbia's crew readied their ship for a Sunday landing at Kennedy Space Center. Columbia has two opportunities to land at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday. The first is at 12:09 a.m. EDT, and in the event flight controllers elect to bypass the first opportunity, the landing would be at 1:43 p.m. EDT. Preliminary weather forecasts for Sunday show clear skies in the vicinity of the Kennedy Space Center, with the only potential issue the possibility of high cross winds. The current forecast indicates the winds should stay within acceptable limits.

May 1, 1998 - Experiments on board Columbia are drawing to a close as the astronauts prepare for a Sunday homecoming to the Kennedy Space Center.

Investigations measuring how the crew's eye-hand coordination, motor coordination skills, and pulmonary function were faring after 15 days in space are complete. The final of three behavioral sessions to determine the dexterity of rat neonates who have developed their motor skills in space also was completed today.

The astronauts now will begin stowing away much of the experiment hardware in anticipation of their return trip to Earth.

APRIL 29, 1998 - Amidst a day of investigations focusing on blood pressure regulation, Columbiašs astronauts beamed down a short video tour of their scientific endeavors.

Pilot Scott Altman explained the operations of several pieces of hardware being used on board including the rotating chair which is being used to determine how the balance mechanisms of the inner ear function in microgravity. A camera, attached to the outer structure, showed Mission Control how rapidly the astronauts are rotated for these investigations.

Columbiašs science crew -- Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Dave Williams and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey and Jim Pawelczyk continued their investigations into how the human nervous system adapts to the weightless environment of space, taking part in a variety of autonomic experiments today.

APRIL 28, 1998 - The seven-member crew of Columbia completed another productive day of scientific activity, focusing today on understanding blood pressure regulation in microgravity. In addition to science activities, the crew members continue to conduct welfare checks of the rat neonates on board Columbia. Veterinarian Rick Linnehan reported that the crew had provided fluid and nourishment to all the neonates and that most seemed to be responding well.

The crew began their sleep period at 9:29 p.m. EDT. Wednesdayšs activities will once again focus on studies of the human autonomic, or blood pressure regulatory system. Mission managers are still entertaining the option of extending the mission by one day and are expected to make a decision on Wednesday. Columbia is currently scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday.

APRIL 27, 1998 - Today was another busy day of science on board Columbia as the crew members conducted investigations into vestibular, pulmonary and autonomic functions.

In studies which used crew members Rick Linnehan, Dave Williams and Kay Hire, and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey and Jim Pawelczyk as operators and subjects, the crew membersš eye movements were tracked in a study of how the brain adapts to microgravity, and whether altered breathing patterns influence how well the astronauts sleep.

Members of Neurolabšs Mammalian Development Team have re-prioritized their science activities following an unexpectedly high mortality rate among the rat neonates. Mission managers reported today that 45 young rats died, likely as the result of maternal neglect. Forty-five of the original complement of 96 neonates remain, with six having been euthanised as part of scientific protocols during the course of the mission. Columbiašs astronauts investigated the animal enclosures after noticing a drop in water consumption by nursing rat dams. Payload Commander Rick Linnehan and his crew mates intervened, providing fluid and nourishment to some of the young rats by hand, in an effort to save them.

APRIL 25, 1998 - A one-inch piece of aluminum tape and a measure of ingenuity by engineers on the ground today breathed new life in to the STS-90 Neurolab mission.

Rick Searfoss opened up a Regenerative Carbon Dioxide Removal System (RCRS) aboard Columbia, removed a hose clamp, and used the tape to bypass a check valve that was allowing cabin pressure to leak into the system and throw off Columbia's electronics control unit.

Crew members also restored air circulation to one of the Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF) pens being carried in the Spacelab, and continued work with the ball catch experiment and the Effects of Gravity on Postnatal Motor Development Experiment.

The crew will begin its sleep shift at 10:19 p.m. EDT. A planned half day off on Sunday will be moved to the first half of the crew's day so that they may sleep in after losing about an hour of sleep because of the RCRS shutdown on Friday night.

APRIL 24, 1998 - Commander Rick Searfoss, Pilot Scott Altman, Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Kay Hire and Dave Williams along with Payload Specialists Jay Buckey and Jim Pawelczyk neared the halfway mark of their neuroscience research mission today, operating the 26 individual experiments designed to provide insight into the operation of the nervous system and served as subjects for the autonomic blood pressure regulation studies. The astronauts will go to sleep at 10:39 p.m. EDT and be awakened at 6:39 a.m. Saturday to begin the ninth day of their long research mission.

APRIL 23, 1998 - The seven astronauts aboard Columbia continued a variety of neuroscience experiments today, including a Canadian-developed experiment that tested their ability to point at, track and grasp objects while in microgravity.

Using a special glove with light-emitting fingertips, Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Dave Williams and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey and Jim Pawelczyk took turns following targets on a screen as part of the Visuo-Motor Coordination Facility (VCF) experiment. The crew used the equipment early in the flight and will test their eye-hand coordination again late in the flight.

Columbia and all of its systems continue to operate without problems as the shuttle continues to orbit the Earth at 17,500 miles an hour. The astronauts will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 10:59 p.m. EDT and will be awakened Friday at 6:59 a.m. to begin their eighth day of work aboard Columbia.

APRIL 22, 1998 - As the Neurolab mission continues its pace of scientific activity, Columbiašs astronauts spent another day investigating how unborn mice develop without gravity and how young rats learn to walk and swim in a microgravity environment.

Astronauts marked the joints of 15- and 21-day-old rats with permanent black dots, then videotaped them as they moved around in a rodent "jungle gym" with various surfaces to allow them to walk and climb. Scientists on the ground will watch to see if motor skills develop differently in the rats that had never experienced gravity and those that had some experience in gravity, and will look at how each group adapts to normal gravity upon returning to Earth.

Reconfiguring the General Purpose Work Station for the young rat behavioral studies took longer than planned, but the orbiting researchers were expected to complete their full complement of experiments before going to sleep about 11:19 p.m. EDT.

APRIL 21, 1998 - The seven astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Columbia took the second half of the day off today after investigations using a rotating chair designed to study the close connection between inner ear balance mechanisms and eye movement.

Scheduled time off for crew members is a normal part of longer shuttle missions such as this two-week plus Neurolab flight, designed to help the crew stay well rested, mentally sharp and operating effectively. Several of the crew members integrated their regular exercise for the day into their off-duty time. The entire crew begins an eight-hour sleep shift at 11:39 p.m. EDT.

APRIL 20, 1998 - Columbiašs astronauts took virtual trips down a never-ending hallway, put rats through their paces on zero-gravity mazes and continued to record detailed information about their sleep patterns and breathing habits today as the Neurolab mission continued its studies of the human nervous system.

Each of the payload crew members -- Linnehan, Williams, Buckey and Pawelczyk continued their work with the virtual reality headgear called the Virtual Environment Generator (VEG). The VEG evaluates visual and inner ear cues help the astronauts determine body orientation changes in the absence of gravity. Todayšs virtual voyages included walks down a never-ending hallway, visits to a tumbling Spacelab-like room and encounters with upside-down astronauts in a tilted virtual Spacelab.

The four payload crew members also took turns working with the four male Fischer rats as part of the Escher Staircase Behavior Testing of Adult Rats experiment. Scientists are studying how the ratsš nervous systems "rewire" themselves to accommodate the disorienting effects of microgravity.

Hire, Williams, Linnehan and Pawelczyk took turns breathing into Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) equipment and wearing instrumented Respiratory Inductance Plethysmograph (RIP) suits so that data could be collected on their breathing patterns and blood concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Researchers are looking at whether altered breathing patterns in space affect astronaut sleep. The studies also may help scientists understand sleep disruption experienced by many people on Earth.

APRIL 19, 1998 - Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia today bypassed a faulty air pump in one of four saltwater aquarium chambers, continued tests on the adaptability of the human nervous system and collected tissue samples for studies of how space flight affects developing nervous systems. Pilot Scott Altman and Mission Specialist Kay Hire worked on the Vestibular Function Experiment Unit (VFEU) that is home to four oyster toadfish; Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Dave Williams and Jim Pawelczyk worked as experiment operators and served as test subjects on two Sensory Motor and Performance Team experiments; Commander Rick Searfoss tended to rodents in the Animal Enclosure Module; and Payload Specialist Jay Buckey and Mission Specialist Dave Williams performed injections and dissections of pregnant mice in the General Purpose Work Station (GPWS) for a study of how reduced gravity affects the cells of developing nervous systems.

APRIL 18, 1998 - Columbia's crew members began a slate of 26 experiments focused on the human nervous system today as they moved through their first full day in orbit, measuring each other's blood pressure changes and working with some of the rodents and fish onboard for studies of the sense of balance. The Neurolab studies of the human nervous system include a total of 26 individual experiments, involving both the crew members and crickets, fish and rodents onboard the shuttle. The experiments include studies of blood pressure, balance, coordination and sleep patterns.

All of the nervous system studies can benefit researchers studying illnesses on Earth as well as provide insight into how astronauts may better counteract the effects of weightlessness for future long space journeys. The blood pressure studies may assist those on Earth researching similar blood pressure conditions that can cause dizziness or fainting, a symptom astronauts also may briefly experience upon their return to Earth. Studies of the sense of balance and its adaptation to weightlessness may provide information to assist studies of inner ear disorders on Earth.

APRIL 17, 1998 - Columbia successfully launched at 2:19 p.m. EDT today from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39-B. The crew members' first efforts will focus on activating systems in the Spacelab module, which houses many of the 26 experiments to be conducted during the flight.

APRIL 16, 1998 - Shuttle managers decided to delay the launch of STS-90 due to a failure of one of two network signal processors on board Columbia. The network signal processor is one of two devices located on the middeck that route data and communications between the shuttle and the ground. The replacement of this signal processor is expected to take eight hours and is anticipated to delay the launch until at least 24 hours.

Neurolab is a mission dedicated entirely to life sciences. It specifically focuses on the nervous system and how it responds to the challenges of space flight. The nervous system, composed of the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves and sensory organs, is the most complex system in the body. Although much physiological data has been collected over the years about how adaptation to microgravity occurs, researchers are just beginning to understand space physiology.

Investigations during the Neurolab mission will focus specifically on experiments that study the adaptation of the vestibular system and space adaptation syndrome, the adaptation of the central nervous system and the pathways which control the ability to sense location in the absence of gravity, and the effect of microgravity on a developing nervous system.

The Neurolab payload consists of 26 human and nonhuman scientific experiments and associated hardware in a Spacelab long module and the orbiter middeck. The experiment disciplines are primarily involved with life science investigations utilizing human subjects and laboratory animals.

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