STS-80

STS-80 is a Space Shuttle program mission.

Space Shuttle program
Mission Insignia
Mission Statistics
Mission:	STS-80
Shuttle:	Columbia
Launch pad:	39-B
Launch:	November 19, 1996 2:55:47 p.m EST.
Landing:	KSC December 7, 1996 6:49:05 a.m. EST.
Duration:	17 days, 15 hours, 53 minutes, 18 seconds.
Orbit altitude:	218 statute miles (351 km)
Orbit inclination:	28.45 degrees
Distance traveled:	Over 7 million statute miles (11 million km)
Crew photo
Missing image Sts-80_crew.jpg
Previous Mission: STS-79	Next Mission: STS-81

Crew

• Kenneth D. Cockrell (3), Mission Commander
• Kent V. Rominger (2), Pilot
• Tamara E. Jernigan (4), Mission Specialist
• Thomas D. Jones (3), Mission Specialist
• F. Story Musgrave (6), Mission Specialist

Mission parameters

• Mass: 13,006 kg payload
• Perigee: 318 km
• Apogee: 375 km
• Inclination: 28.5°
• Period: 91.5 min

Mission highlights

STS-80 marks the third flight of the WSF that flew on STS-60 and STS-69 and the third flight to use the German-built Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrograph-Shuttle Pallet Satellite II (ORFEUS-SPAS II). The ASTRO-SPAS program is a cooperative endeavor between NASA and the German Space Agency, DARA. Both satellites will be deployed and retrieved during the mission. STS-80 is the seventh and last Space Shuttle mission of 1996, the 21st flight of the orbiter Columbia and the 80th flight overall in NASA's Space Shuttle program. Columbia last flew on mission STS-78 in the summer of this year.

Other experiments on STS-80 are the Space Experiment Module (SEM), The National Institutes of Health NIH-R4 Experiment, a series of bone cell experiments known as CCM-A (formerly called STL/NIH-C-6), the Biological Research in Canister (BRIC-09) Experiment, the Commercial MDA ITA Experiment (CMIX-5), the Visualization in an Experimental Water Capillary pumped Loop (VIEW-CPL) Experiment

ORFEUS-SPAS II, a free-flying satellite, will be deployed and retrieved using the Space Shuttle Columbia's Remote Manipulator System (RMS). The goal of this astrophysics mission is to investigate the rarely explored far- and extreme-ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and study the very hot and very cold matter in the universe.

ORFEUS-SPAS II will be attempting a large number of observing programs. Among the many areas in which scientists hope to gain new insights during this mission are the evolution of stars, the structure of galaxies, and the nature of the interstellar medium, and others. Many of the objects they are planning to look at have never before been observed in the far-ultraviolet.

ASTRO-SPAS is a carrier designed for launch, deployment and retrieval by the Space Shuttle. Once deployed from the Shuttle's RMS, ASTRO-SPAS will operate quasi-autonomously for 14 days in the vicinity of the Shuttle. The carrier's inclination will be 28.4 degrees with an altitude of 218 statute miles (351 km). After completion of the free flight phase, the satellite will be retrieved by the RMS, returned to the Shuttle cargo bay and returned to Earth.

The one-meter diameter ORFEUS-Telescope with the Far Ultraviolet (FUV) Spectrograph and the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Spectrograph comprises the main payload. A secondary, but highly complementary, payload is the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS). In addition to the astronomy payloads, ORFEUS-SPAS II carries the Surface Effects Sample Monitor (SESAM), the ATV Rendezvous Pre-Development Project (ARP), and the Student Experiment on ASTRO-SPAS (SEAS).

The free-flying Wake Shield Facility (WSF-3) will be making its third flight into orbit. The Facility is a 12 foot (3.7 m) diameter, free-flying stainless steel disk designed to generate an "ultra-vacuum" environment in space in which to grow semiconductor thin films for use in advanced electronics. The STS-80 astronaut crew will deploy and retrieve the WSF during the 16 day mission using Columbia's "robot arm," or Remote Manipulator System. Wake Shield is sponsored by the Space Processing Division in NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications. Wake Shield was designed, built and is operated by the Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center at the University of Houston--a NASA Commercial Space Center--in conjunction with its industrial partner, Space Industries, Inc., also in Houston.

Wake Shield has flown twice before. The first flight on STS-60, in 1994, although experiencing a hardware problem that resulted in the vehicle remaining attached to the robot arm, proved the vacuum wake concept, and realized the space epitaxy concept by growing the first-ever crystalline semiconductor thin films in the vacuum of space.

Astronauts Tammy Jernigan and Tom Jones will perform two six- hour spacewalks during STS-80, one on Flight Day 10 and another on Day 12, to evaluate equipment and procedures that will be used during construction and maintenance of the International Space Station.

The spacewalks are the fifth in a continuing series of Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) called the EVA Development Flight Tests (EDFT). This flight test series of spacewalks is designed to evaluate equipment and procedures planned for the station and to build spacewalking experience in preparation for assembly of the station. Jernigan is designated Extravehicular Crewmember 1 (EV- 1) and will be distinguished by red bands worn on the legs of her spacesuit. Jones is designated EV-2. Astronaut Story Musgrave will serve as the Intravehicular (IV) crewmember, assisting Jernigan and Jones from inside Columbia's crew cabin. STS-80 Pilot Kent Rominger also will assist with the spacewalks, controlling the robotic arm from inside the cabin.

The astronauts also will evaluate a variety of work aids and tools designed for use during station operations, including a Body Restraint Tether (BRT), a type of "third hand" stabilizing bar for spacewalkers; a Multi-Use Tether (MUT), a type of stabilizing tether similar to the BRT that can be anchored to either round U.S. handrails or square Russian handrails; and a power tool designed for the station.

Space Experiment Module (SEM) is a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Shuttle Small Payloads Project education initiative that provides increased educational access to space. The program targets kindergarten through university level participants. SEM stimulates and encourages direct student participation in the creation, development, and flight of zero-gravity and microgravity experiments on the Space Shuttle.

The SEM system provides reusable modules for experiments within a 5 cubic foot (142 L) Getaway Special Canister. The system uses a Goddard-provided internal support structure, battery, power distribution system, data sampling and storage device and harness. Experiments may be active (requiring power to run mechanisms) or passive (having no mechanisms or requiring no power). Customized data sampling schemes are programmed before flight for each experiment, and data reduction and processing are completed after flight.

Related articles

• 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-80/mission-sts-80.html)