1993 American crewed spaceflight
STS-58
Spacelab module LM2
in
Columbia
'
s payload bay, serving as the Spacelab Life Sciences-2 laboratory
|
Names
| Space Transportation System
-58
SLS-2
Spacelab Life Sciences-2
|
---|
|
Mission type
| Biosciences
|
---|
Operator
| NASA
|
---|
COSPAR ID
| 1993-065A
|
---|
SATCAT
no.
| 22869
|
---|
Mission duration
| 14
days, 0
hour, 12
minutes, 32
seconds (achieved)
|
---|
Distance travelled
| 9,400,000 km (5,800,000 mi)
|
---|
Orbits completed
| 225
|
---|
|
|
|
Spacecraft
| Space Shuttle
Columbia
|
---|
Landing mass
| 103,146 kg (227,398 lb)
|
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Payload mass
| 11,803 kg (26,021 lb)
|
---|
|
|
|
Crew size
| 7
|
---|
Members
| |
---|
|
|
|
Launch date
| October 18, 1993, 14:53:10
UTC
|
---|
Rocket
| Space Shuttle
Columbia
|
---|
Launch site
| Kennedy Space Center
,
LC-39B
|
---|
Contractor
| Rockwell International
|
---|
|
|
|
Landing date
| November 1, 1993, 15:05:42
UTC
|
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Landing site
| Edwards Air Force Base
,
Runway 22
|
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|
|
|
Reference system
| Geocentric orbit
|
---|
Regime
| Low Earth orbit
|
---|
Perigee altitude
| 284 km (176 mi)
|
---|
Apogee altitude
| 294 km (183 mi)
|
---|
Inclination
| 39.00°
|
---|
Period
| 90.30 minutes
|
---|
|
STS-58 mission patch
Standing:
John E. Blaha
,
William S. McArthur
,
Martin J. Fettman
Seated:
David A. Wolf
,
Shannon W. Lucid
,
Margaret Rhea Seddon
,
Richard A. Searfoss
|
STS-58
was a
NASA
mission flown by
Space Shuttle
Columbia
launched from
Kennedy Space Center
,
Florida
, on October 18, 1993. The missions was primarily devoted to experiments concerning the
physiological effects in space
. This was the first in-flight use of the "Portable In-flight Landing Operations Trainer" (PILOT) simulation software. It was also the last time
Columbia
would land at
Edwards Air Force Base
,
California
.
Crew
[
edit
]
Backup Crew
[
edit
]
Mission highlights
[
edit
]
STS-58 was a 1993 shuttle mission dedicated to
life sciences research
.
Columbia
'
s crew performed a series of experiments to gain knowledge on how the human body adapts to the
weightless environment of space
. Experiments focused on
cardiovascular
, regulatory,
DNA
, neurovestibular and
musculoskeletal
systems of the body. The experiments performed on
Columbia
'
s crew and on laboratory animals (48
rats
held in 24 cages), along with data collected on the SLS-1 mission (
STS-40
) in June 1991, will provide the most detailed and interrelated physiological measurements acquired in the space environment since the
Skylab program
in 1973 and 1974.
[2]
Crew members conducted experiments aimed at understanding bone tissue loss and the effects of
microgravity
on sensory perception. Two neurovestibular experiments investigating space motion sickness and perception changes were performed on the 2nd day as well. Astronauts Lucid and Fettman wore a headset, called an Accelerometer Recording Unit (ARU), designed to continually record head movements throughout the day.
[2]
Only one minor issue came up on October 19, 1993, associated with a circuit breaker that tripped, cutting off power temporarily to one of the rodent cages in the module. Flight controllers in
Houston
reported it was not caused by a short in the electrical system and the breaker was reset, restoring power to the cage.
[2]
McArthur and Blaha began using the Lower Body Negative Pressure device on flight day 3 (FD 3), which is being tested as a countermeasure for the detrimental effects of microgravity. All three flight crew members will collect urine and saliva samples and keep logs of their exercise and food and fluid intake as part of the Energy Utilization detailed supplementary objective. DSO 612 looks at the nutritial and energy requirements of crew members on long-duration space flights and the relationship between fluid and food consumption.
[2]
On October 20, 1993, though the space toilet is working fine, the crew detected a slight leak around the filter door before going to bed. They removed the filter and cleaned up about a teaspoon of water ? much less than had been expected. As a precaution, a secondary fan separator unit was used to separate fluid from the air before cycling the air back into the cabin through the filter.
[2]
On October 21, 1993,
Mission specialists
Margaret Rhea Seddon
(
Payload commander
),
Shannon Lucid
and
David Wolf
and
Payload specialist
Martin Fettman
collected additional blood and urine samples for the series of
metabolic experiments
. Some of the samples will follow-up on the
calcium absorption
experiment performed on October 20, 1993. The experiment, sponsored by Dr. C. D. Arnaud of the
University of California, San Francisco
, studies the mechanisms of how
calcium
is maintained and used in
bone metabolism
in space. Based on preliminary results from the 1991 SLS-1 mission (STS-40), Dr. Arnaud believes the decrease in
bone density
is due to increased bone breakdown that is not compensated for by a subsequent increase in bone formation.
[2]
On October 22, 1993, using the on-board
ham radio
called SAREX-2 for
Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment
, Blaha and Searfoss contacted school children at the Sycamore Middle School in
Pleasant View, Tennessee
, Gardendale Elementary in
Pasadena, Texas
and
Naparima College
in
Trinidad and Tobago
on November 4, 1993. The Standard Interface Rack (SIR), was tested by Searfoss to demonstrate that equipment can be removed from one rack location and reintegrated into another by a single crew member during orbital operations while maintaining reliable mechanical, data and power interfaces.
[2]
Another test flying aboard
Columbia
was the "Portable In-flight Landing Operations Trainer" (PILOT), a
laptop computer
simulator that was flown to qualify its use as a tool for helping the mission commander and pilot maintain their proficiency for approach and landing during longer duration
Space Shuttle
flights.
[3]
The laptop was controlled using a joy stick hand controller similar to the one used to fly the orbiter in the final minutes before landing. The simulator would continue to see use up to and including the final Shuttle flight (
STS-135
).
[4]
On October 23, 1993, the payload crew members were scheduled to devote much of their time to metabolic studies of the 48 rodents on board the
Spacelab science workshop
. Payload commander Rhea Seddon, and crewmates David Wolf, Shannon Lucid and veterinarian Marty Fettman were scheduled to draw blood from the tails of some of the rodents, then inject a special
isotope
into the rodents to measure the volume of their
plasma
. Another blood draw would follow, to measure how weightlessness may be affecting the red blood cell count of the animals.
[2]
After several ham radio contacts around the country and work in a vacuum bag designed to ease the body's readaptation to
Earth
's environment, the orbiter crew made up of Commander John Blaha, Pilot Richard Searfoss and Mission specialist William McArthur oversaw a short firing of one of the
orbital maneuvering system
engines
to drop the low end of
Columbia
'
s orbit from 278 × 263 km (173 × 163 mi) to increase the landing opportunities should the mission be extended for weather or a system problem that would keep the crew in orbit two extra days.
[2]
On October 27, 1993, Pilot Rick Searfoss put
Columbia
through some maneuvers as part of the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE). The main goal of the experiment was to accurately measure the
aerodynamic forces
that act on the shuttle in orbit and during the early stages of entry. The information will be useful to scientists and engineers planning future Spacelab microgravity research flights in which experiments will need a quiet, motion-free environment to produce the best possible
data
. On October 28, 1993, after enjoying a half a day off, the astronauts aboard
Columbia
continued to collect scientific data on how humans and animals adapt to the absence of Earth's gravity.
[2]
Payload commander Rhea Seddon sent down a special message to her husband, Astronaut Office Chief
Robert L. Gibson
when she surpassed his total of 632 hours, 56 minutes in space. "He's still a really good guy, I still love him a lot, but I've got more hours in space than he does, so there!" she teased. Seddon acknowledged, however, that he has more launches and landings, having flown four times to her three.
[2]
Pilot Rick Searfoss took time out from snapping some
infrared photography
of the wildfires burning in
southern California
to say that the crew's thoughts are with the firefighters working to quell the flames and the residents whose homes are being threatened. He said he hoped the fires would be brought under control soon, and added that the photographs he was taking will be among some 4,000 frames that will be returned to Earth for
meteorologists
,
geologists
,
ecologists
and
archeologists
to study after the flight.
[2]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"People Directory"
.
Archived
from the original on February 13, 2022
. Retrieved
February 13,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
"STS-58"
. NASA. June 29, 2001.
Archived
from the original on February 13, 2022
. Retrieved
February 13,
2022
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
William T. Overton - NASA-JSC (June 21, 1994).
"What is PILOT?"
. University of Texas - NASA.
Archived
from the original on November 11, 2022
. Retrieved
February 13,
2022
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"STS-135 Shuttle Report - Astronauts ready Atlantis for Thursday's predawn landing"
. Spaceflight Now. July 20, 2011.
Archived
from the original on February 14, 2022
. Retrieved
February 13,
2022
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Completed
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Cancelled
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Orbiters
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- †
indicates failure missions.
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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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