Launch from Cape Canaveral (
KSC); landing on Cape
Canaveral (
KSC).
Spacelab-J - a joint NASA and National Space Development Agency of Japan
(
NASDA)
mission using a manned Spacelab module - conducted microgravity investigations
in materials and life sciences. The international crew, consisting of the first
Japanese astronaut (
Mohri) to fly aboard the Shuttle, the first African-American
woman (
Jemison) to fly in space and, contrary to normal
NASA
policy, the first married couple to fly on the same space mission (
Lee and
Davis), was divided into red and blue teams for around the
clock operations. Spacelab-J included 24 materials science and 20 life sciences
experiments, of which 35 were sponsored by
NASDA,
7 by
NASA
and 2 collaborative efforts.
Materials science investigations covered
such fields as biotechnology, electronic materials, fluid dynamics and
transport phenomena, glasses and ceramics, metals and alloys, and acceleration
measurements. Life sciences included experiments on human health, cell
separation and biology, developmental biology, animal and human physiology and
behavior, space radiation, and biological rhythms. Test subjects included the
crew, Japanese koi fish (carp) and their vestibularsystem, cultured animal and
plant cells, chicken embryos, fruit flies, fungi and plant seeds, and frogs and
frog eggs.
Twelve Get Away Special (GAS) canisters (10 with experiments,
2 with ballast) were carried in the payload bay. Middeck experiments were:
Israeli Space Agency Investigation About Hornets (ISAIAH), Solid Surface
Combustion Experiment (SSCE), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX II), Air
Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS), and Ultraviolet Plume Imager (UVPI).
The
ISAIAH experiments showed, that hornets were unable to built honeycombs in
weightlessness.
Mission duration was extended for one day, to complete
all planned experiments.