STS-48

From Academic Kids

Mission Insignia


Mission Statistics
Mission:	STS-48
Shuttle:	Discovery
Launch Pad:	39-A
Launch:	September 12, 1991, 7:11:04 p.m. EDT.
Landing:	September 18, 1991, 12:38:42 a.m. PDT, Runway 22, Edwards AFB, California
Duration:	5 days, 8 hours, 27 minutes, 38 seconds.
Orbit Altitude:	313 nautical miles (580 km)
Orbit Inclination:	57.0 degrees
Distance traveled:	2,193,670 miles (3,530,369 km)
Crew photo
Missing image Sts-48-crew.GIF

Contents

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Crew

John O. Creighton (flew on STS-51-G, STS-36 & STS-48), Commander
Kenneth S. Reightler, Jr. (flew on STS-48 & STS-60), Pilot
James F. Buchli (flew on STS-51-C, STS-61-A, STS-29 & STS-48), Mission Specialist 1
Charles D. Gemar (flew on STS-38, STS-48 & STS-62), Mission Specialist 2
Mark N. Brown (flew on STS-28 & STS-48), Mission Specialist 3

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Mission Parameters

Mass:
- Orbiter landing with payload: 87,321 kg
- Payload: 7,865 kg
Perigee: 575 km
Apogee: 580 km
Inclination: 57.0�
Period: 96.2 min

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Mission Highlights

Launch: September 12, 1991, 7:11:04 p.m. EDT. Launch delayed 14 minutes by a faulty communication link between KSC and Mission Control in Houston. Launch Weight: 240,062 lb (108,890 kg).

Primary payload, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), deployed on the third day of the mission. During its planned 18-month mission, the 14,500-pound observatory will make the most extensive study ever conducted of the Earth's troposphere, the upper level of the planet's envelope of life-sustaining gases which also include the protective ozone layer. UARS has ten sensing and measuring devices: Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES); Improved Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (ISAMS); Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS); Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE); High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI); Wind Imaging Interferometer (WlNDII); Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM); Solar/Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE); Particle Environment Monitor (PEM) and Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor (ACRIM II).

Secondary payloads were: Ascent Particle Monitor (APM); Middeck 0-Gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE); Shuttle Activation Monitor (SAM); Cosmic Ray Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM); Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE); Protein Crystal Growth II-2 (PCG II-2); Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP); and the Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

Landing: September 18,1991, 12:38:42 a.m. PDT, Runway 22, Edwards AFB, CA. Rollout distance: 9,513 feet. Rollout time: 50 seconds. Landed scheduled for KSC, but diverted to Edwards due to bad weather. Orbiter returned to KSC September 26,1991. Landing Weight: 192,780 lb (87,444 kg).

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