STS-75
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| Space Shuttle program | |
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| Mission Insignia | |
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| Mission Statistics | |
| Mission: | STS-75 |
| Shuttle: | Columbia |
| Launch Pad: | 39B |
| Launch: | February 22, 1996 20:18:00 UTC |
| Landing: | March 9, 1996 13:58:22 UTC Kennedy Space Center, Runway 33 |
| Duration: | 15 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes, 22 seconds |
| Orbit Altitude: | 155 nautical miles (287 km) |
| Orbit Inclination: | 57.0 degrees |
| Orbits: | 252 |
| Distance traveled: | 6,500,000 miles (10,500,000 km) |
| Crew photo | |
| Missing image Sts-75-crew.jpg | Previous Mission: STS-72 |
Next Mission: STS-76 |
STS-75 was a United States Space Shuttle mission, the 19th mission of the Columbia orbiter.
| Contents |
Crew
- Commander: Andrew M. Allen (3)
- Pilot: Scott J. Horowitz (1)
- Mission Specialist 1: Jeffrey A. Hoffman (5)
- Mission Specialist 2: Maurizio Cheli (1) (ESA) - Italy
- Mission Specialist 3: Claude Nicollier (3)(ESA) - Switzerland
- Mission Specialist 4 & Payload Commander: Franklin R. Chang-Diaz (5)
- Payload Specialist: Umberto Guidoni (Italy)
Mission parameters
- Mass: 10,592 kg payload
- Perigee: 277 km
- Apogee: 320 km
- Inclination: 28.5°
- Period: 90.5 min
Mission objective
The primary objective of STS-75 was to carry the Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R) into orbit and to deploy it spaceward on a conducting tether. The mission also flew the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-3) designed to investigate materials science and condensed matter physics.
The TSS-1R mission is a reflight of TSS-1 which was flown onboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-46 in July/August of 1992. During that flight, the tether was deployed a distance of 860 feet. STS-75 mission scientist hope to deploy the tether to a distance of over 12 miles (20.7km).
The Tether Satellite System will circle the Earth at an altitude of 296 kilometers which will place the tether system within the rarefied electrically charged layer of the atmosphere known as the ionosphere. The conducting tether will generate high voltage and electrical currents as it moves through the ionosphere across the magnetic field lines of the earth. Scientists will be able to learn more about the electrodynamics of a conducting tether system to deepen our understanding of physical processes in the near-Earth space environment. These studies will help provide explanations for events such as the formation and behavior of comet tails and bursts of radio "noise" detected from other planets.
The specific TSS1-R mission objectives are: characterize the current-voltage response of the TSS-orbiter system, characterize the satellites high-voltage sheath structure and current collection process, demonstrate electric power generation, verify tether control laws and basic tether dynamics, demonstrate the effect of neutral gas on the plasma sheath and current collection, characterize the TSS radio frequency and plasma wave emissions and characterize the TSS dynamic-electrodynamic coupling.
TSS-1R Science Investigations include: TSS Deployer Core Equipment and Satellite Core Equipment (DCORE/SCORE), Research on Orbital Plasma Electrodynamics (ROPE), Research on Electrodynamic Tether Effects (RETE), Magnetic Field Experiment for TSS Missions (TEMAG), Shuttle Electrodynamic Tether System (SETS), Shuttle Potential and Return Electron Experiment (SPREE), Tether Optical Phenomena Experiment (TOP), Investigation of Electromagnetic Emissions by the Electrodynamic Tether (EMET), Observations at the Earth's Surface of Electromagnetic Emissions by TSS (OESSE), Investigation and Measurement of Dynamic Noise in the TSS (IMDN), Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of TSS Dynamics (TEID) and the Theory and Modeling in Support of Tethered Satellite Applications (TMST).
The USMP-3 payload consists of four major experiments mounted on two Mission Peculiar Experiment Support Structures (MPESS) and three Shuttle Mid-deck experiments. The experiments are: Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF), Material pour l'Etude des Phenomenes Interessant la Solidification sur Terre et en Orbite (MEPHISTO), Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS), Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE), Critical Fluid Light Scattering Experiment (ZENO) and Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE).
External links
- NASA PAO page about STS-75 (http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/chron/sts-75.htm)
| Previous Mission: STS-72 |
Space Shuttle program | Next Mission: STS-76 |