STS-48
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| 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 |
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
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
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).
See also
- Space science
- Space shuttle
- List of space shuttle missions
- List of human spaceflights chronologically
External links
- NASA mission summary (http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-48/mission-sts-48.html)
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