Human Spaceflights

International Flight No. 141

STS-48

Discovery (13)

USA

STS-48 patch Patch STS-48 UARS

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Patch STS-48 UARS

Launch, orbit and landing data

Launch date:  12.09.1991
Launch time:  23:11 UTC
Launch site:  Cape Canaveral (KSC)
Launch pad:  39-A
Altitute:  579 km
Inclination:  57,0°
Landing date:  18.09.1991
Landing time:  07:38 UTC
Landing site:  Edwards AFB

walkout photo

STS-48 crew

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Crew

No.   Surname Given names Position Flight No. Duration Orbits
1 USA  Creighton  John Oliver  CDR 3 5d 08h 27m  81 
2 USA  Reightler  Kenneth Stanley, Jr.  PLT 1 5d 08h 27m  81 
3 USA  Gemar  Charles Donald "Sam"  MSP 2 5d 08h 27m  81 
4 USA  Buchli  James Frederick  MSP 4 5d 08h 27m  81 
5 USA  Brown  Mark Neil  MSP 2 5d 08h 27m  81 

Crew seating arrangement

Launch
1  Creighton
2  Reightler
3  Gemar
4  Buchli
5  Brown
Space Shuttle cockpit
Landing
1  Creighton
2  Reightler
3  Brown
4  Buchli
5  Gemar

Flight

Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC); landing on Edwards AFB. The launch was delayed 14 minutes by a faulty communication link between KSC and Mission Control in Houston.

The primary payload, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), was deployed on the third day of the mission. During its planned 18-month mission, the 14,500-pound observatory was to make the most extensive study ever conducted of the Earth's troposphere, the upper level of the planet's envelope of life-sustaining gases which also include the protective ozone layer. UARS had ten sensing and measuring devices: Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES); Improved Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (ISAMS); Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS); Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE); High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI); Wind Imaging Interferometer (WlNDII); Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM); Solar/Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE); Particle Environment Monitor (PEM) and Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor (ACRIM II). UARS's initial 18-month mission was extended several times - it was finally retired after 14 years of service.

Secondary payloads were: Ascent Particle Monitor (APM); Middeck 0-Gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE); Shuttle Activation Monitor (SAM); Cosmic Ray Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM); Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE); Protein Crystal Growth II-2 (PCG II-2); Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP); and the Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

The crew performed the first Collision Avoidance Maneuver (COLA) to fly in save distance to a Kosmos 955 satellite segment, which had already been launched on September 20, 1977.

Due to bad weather at Cape Canaveral the Discovery was diverted to the Edwards AFB.

Photos / Drawings

Space Shuttle UARS
STS-48 rollout STS-48 launch
STS-48 UARS traditional in-flight photo STS-48
STS-48 landing  

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Last update on October 10, 2010.

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