1992 American crewed spaceflight
STS-42
|
Names
| Space Transportation System
-42
|
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|
Mission type
| Microgravity research
|
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Operator
| NASA
|
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COSPAR ID
| 1992-002A
|
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SATCAT
no.
| 21846
|
---|
Mission duration
| 8
days, 1
hour, 14
minutes, 44
seconds
|
---|
Distance travelled
| 4,701,140 km (2,921,150 mi)
|
---|
Orbits completed
| 129
|
---|
|
|
|
Spacecraft
| Space Shuttle
Discovery
|
---|
Launch mass
| 110,400 kg (243,400 lb)
|
---|
Landing mass
| 98,924 kg (218,090 lb)
[1]
|
---|
Payload mass
| 13,066 kg (28,806 lb)
|
---|
|
|
|
Crew size
| 7
|
---|
Members
| |
---|
|
|
|
Launch date
| January 22, 1992, 14:52:33
UTC
|
---|
Rocket
| Space Shuttle
Discovery
|
---|
Launch site
| Kennedy Space Center
,
LC-39A
|
---|
Contractor
| Rockwell International
|
---|
|
|
|
Landing date
| January 30, 1992, 16:07:17
UTC
|
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Landing site
| Edwards Air Force Base
,
Runway 22
|
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|
|
|
Reference system
| Geocentric orbit
|
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Regime
| Low Earth orbit
|
---|
Perigee altitude
| 291 km (181 mi)
|
---|
Apogee altitude
| 307 km (191 mi)
|
---|
Inclination
| 57.00°
|
---|
Period
| 90.50 minutes
|
---|
|
STS-42 mission patch
Stephen S. Oswald
,
Roberta Bondar
,
Norman Thagard
,
Ronald J. Grabe
,
David C. Hilmers
,
Ulf Merbold
,
William F. Readdy
|
STS-42
was a
NASA
Space Shuttle
Discovery
mission with the
Spacelab
module. Liftoff was originally scheduled for 8:45
EST
(13:45
UTC
) on January 22, 1992, but the launch was delayed due to weather constraints.
Discovery
successfully lifted off an hour later at 9:52:33 EST (14:52:33 UTC).
[1]
The main goal of the mission was to study the effects of
microgravity
on a variety of
organisms
. The shuttle landed at 8:07:17
PST
(16:07:17 UTC) on January 30, 1992, on Runway 22,
Edwards Air Force Base
,
California
.
[1]
STS-42 was the first of two flights in 1992 of
Discovery
, the second of which occurred during
STS-53
, which launched on December 2, 1992. The mission was also the last mission of the Space Shuttle
Discovery
to have a seven-member crew until
STS-82
, which was launched on February 11, 1997.
Crew
[
edit
]
Crew seating arrangements
[
edit
]
Seat
[2]
|
Launch
|
Landing
|
Seats 1?4 are on the Flight Deck. Seats 5?7 are on the Middeck.
|
S1
|
Grabe
|
Grabe
|
S2
|
Oswald
|
Oswald
|
S3
|
Thagard
|
Hilmers
|
S4
|
Readdy
|
Readdy
|
S5
|
Hilmers
|
Thagard
|
S6
|
Bondar
|
Bondar
|
S7
|
Merbold
|
Merbold
|
Crew notes
[
edit
]
The crew of STS-42 included
West Germany
's first astronaut,
Ulf D. Merbold
, who was making his second spaceflight, and
Canada
's first female astronaut,
Roberta L. Bondar
. In order to allow around-the-clock monitoring of experiments, the astronauts were divided into a red team and a blue team.
Mary L. Cleave
was originally selected to fly as Mission Specialist 3 for this mission but withdrew herself for personal reasons. She was replaced by
Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter Jr.
, who died 7 months prior the launch in a plane crash. David Hilmers was then chosen to replace him.
Mission highlights
[
edit
]
STS-42 was launched on January 22, 1992, 9:52:33 a.m.
EST
. The launch was delayed by one hour due to weather constraints. The launch weight was 243,396 lb (110,403 kg).
Discovery
carried into orbit the
International Microgravity Laboratory-1
(IML-1), a pressurized crewed
Spacelab
module, to explore in depth the complex effects of
weightlessness
on
living organisms
and materials processing. The international crew, divided into Red and Blue teams, conducted experiments on the human nervous system's adaptation to low gravity and the effects of
microgravity
on other life forms such as
shrimp
eggs
,
lentil
seedlings,
fruit fly
eggs and
bacteria
. Low gravity materials processing experiments included
crystal growth
from a variety of substances such as
enzymes
,
mercury
,
iodine
and a
virus
. Other
payloads
included 10
Get Away Special
(GAS) canisters, a number of middeck payloads, two Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments, and an
Australian
developed
ultraviolet telescope
Endeavour
.
[3]
Middeck payloads included Gelation of SOLS: Applied Microgravity Research (GOSAMR), Investigations into
Polymer Membrane
Processing (IPMP) and the Radiation Monitoring Experiment (RME-III).
The mission landed on January 30, 1992, 8:07:17 a.m.
PST
, Runway 22,
Edwards Air Force Base
,
California
, after being extended by a day for continued scientific experimentation. The rollout distance was 9,811 ft (2,990 m). The orbiter returned to
Kennedy Space Center
on February 16, 1992. The landing weight was 218,016 lb (98,890 kg).
Mission insignia
[
edit
]
The four stars in the lower blue field and two stars in the upper blue field of the insignia symbolize the flight's numerical designation in the Space Transportation System's mission sequence. The single gold star above the horizon on the right is in honor of
astronaut
Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter Jr.
, who was killed in the crash of
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311
in
Brunswick, Georgia
while on a commercial airplane traveling for NASA. Carter was originally assigned as a mission specialist on STS-42 at the time of his death.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"STS-42"
(PDF)
. NASA. September 2011
. Retrieved
February 8,
2022
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"STS-42"
. Spacefacts
. Retrieved
February 26,
2014
.
- ^
"Endeavour"
.
sworld.com.au
. Retrieved
July 22,
2019
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
STS-42
.
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Completed flights
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Status
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On display
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Related
| |
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Completed
(crews)
| 1970s
| |
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1980s
|
- 1981
- 1982
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- 1986
- 1988
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|
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1990s
|
- 1990
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- 1993
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- 1997
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|
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2000s
|
- 2000
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|
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2010s
| |
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Cancelled
| |
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Orbiters
| |
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- †
indicates failure missions.
|
|
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January
| |
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February
| |
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March
| |
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April
| |
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May
| |
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June
| |
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July
|
- Kosmos 2195
- USA-82
- SAMPEX
- USA-83
- Kosmos 2196
- INSAT-2A
,
Eutelsat-2 F4
- Kosmos 2197
,
Kosmos 2198
,
Kosmos 2199
,
Kosmos 2200
,
Kosmos 2201
,
Kosmos 2202
- Gorizont No.37L
- Geotail
,
DUVE
- Kosmos 2203
- Soyuz TM-15
- Kosmos 2204
,
Kosmos 2205
,
Kosmos 2206
- Kosmos 2207
- STS-46
(
EURECA
,
TSS-1
)
|
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August
| |
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September
| |
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October
| |
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November
| |
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December
| |
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Launches are separated by dots ( ? ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ).
Crewed flights
are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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