Human Spaceflights

International Flight No. 177

STS-70

Discovery (21)

USA

hi res version (423 KB)

Source: www.spacepatches.nl

Launch, orbit and landing data

Launch date:  13.07.1995
Launch time:  13:41 UTC
Launch site:  Cape Canaveral (KSC)
Launch pad:  39-B
Altitude:  296 km
Inclination:  28,45°
Landing date:  22.07.1995
Landing time:  12:02 UTC
Landing site:  Cape Canaveral (KSC)

walkout photo

hi res version (984 KB)

Crew

No.   Surname Given names Position Flight No. Duration Orbits
1  Henricks  Terence Thomas "Tom"  CDR 3 8d 22h 20m  142 
2  Kregel  Kevin Richard  PLT 1 8d 22h 20m  142 
3  Thomas  Donald Alan  MSP 2 8d 22h 20m  142 
4  Currie  Nancy Jane Sherlock  MSP 2 8d 22h 20m  142 
5  Weber  Mary Ellen  MSP 1 8d 22h 20m  142 

Crew seating arrangement

Launch
1  Henricks
2  Kregel
3  Thomas
4  Currie
5  Weber
Landing
1  Henricks
2  Kregel
3  Weber
4  Currie
5  Thomas

Flight

Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC); landing on Cape Canaveral (KSC).

Deploying of communications-satellite TDRS-G with the two-stage Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) solid rocket. The TDRS system is a space-based network that provides communications, tracking, telemetry, data acquisition and command services essential to the Space Shuttle and other low-Earth orbital spacecraft such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO), the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE), TOPEX-Poseidon, Landsat and many more.

Secondary objectives of the mission were to fulfill the requirements of the Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment / National Institutes of Health-Rodents (PARE/NIH-R); Bioreactor Demonstration System (BDS), Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG); Space Tissue Loss/National Institutes of Health-Cells (STL/NIH-C); Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC); Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II (SAREX-II), Visual Function Tester-4 (VFT-4); Hand-Held, Earth Oriented, Real-Time, Cooperative, User-Friendly, Location-Targeting and Environmental System (HERCULES); Microcapsules in Space-B (MIS-B); Windows Experiment (WINDEX); Radiation Monitoring Equipment-III (RME-III); and the Military Applications of Ship Tracks (MAST).

The Bioreactor Demonstration System was designed to use ground-based and space-bioreactor systems to grow individual cells into organized tissue that is morphologically and functionally similar to the original tissue or organ. The BDS was composed of a device developed at the Johnson Space Center that used a rotating cylinder to suspend cells and tissues in a growth medium, simulating some aspects of microgravity. The system, which was already used extensively in ground-based research, also provided for gas and nutrient exchange. The purpose of the flight experiment was to demonstrate the performance of the bioreactor in actual mircrogravity. As such, the primary goal was to assess the fluid dynamic characteristics of the bioreactor in microgravity.

A Shuttle window was damaged by a micrometeorite. The mission was extended one day, because of bad weather on the landing site.

Photos / Drawings


©      

Last update on July 28, 2012.