Launch from Cape Canaveral (
KSC);
landing on Cape Canaveral (
KSC).
The primary objective of the STS-72
mission was to capture and return to Earth a Japanese microgravity research
spacecraft known as Space Flyer Unit (SFU). The 7,885 lb (3,577 kg) SFU
spacecraft was launched by Japan's National Space Development Agency (
NASDA) from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 08:01
UTC on March 18, 1995 aboard a Japanese H-II rocket
(HII-3). The deployment of the
SPARTAN 206 satellite for two days was a main
objective, too. Several secundary payloads were flown in the payload bay and
the mid-deck.
The Space Flyer Unit from Japan was captured and brought
to Earth.
EVAs were performed by Leroy
Chiao
and Daniel
Barry on January 15, 1996 (6h 9m) and by Leroy
Chiao
and Winston
Scott on January 17, 1996 (6h 41m) to test tools and hardware
that will be used in the assembly of the
ISS.
The crew also deployed and retrieved the
OAST-Flyer 50 hours later.
OAST-Flyer was the seventh in a series of missions
aboard the reuseable free-flying Spartan carrier spacecraft series. It
consisted of four experiments: Return Flux Experiment (REFLEX) to test accuracy
of computer models predicting spacecraft exposure to contamination; Global
Positioning System Attitude Determination and Control Experiment (GADACS) to
demonstrate
GPS
technology in space; Solar Exposure to Laser Ordnance Device (SELODE) to test
laser ordnance devices; Spartan Packet Radio Experiment (SPRE) and the Amateur
Radio Association at the University of Maryland (W3EAX) amateur radio
communications experiment.
Other experiments onboard STS-72 included
the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Experiment (SSBUV-8) (previously
flown on
STS-34,
STS-41,
STS-43,
STS-45,
STS-56,
STS-62 and
STS-66),
EDFT-03, Shuttle Laser Altimeter Payload
(SLA-01/GAS(5)), VDA-2, National Institutes of Health NIH-R3 Experiment, Space
Tissue Loss Experiment (STL/NIH-C), Pool Boiling Experiment (PBE) (hardware
previously flown on
STS-47,
STS-57 and
STS-60) and the Thermal Energy Storage
(TES-2) experiment (previously flown on
STS-69). Get Away Special payloads included the United States
Air Force Academy G-342 Flexible Beam Experiment (FLEXBEAM-2), Society of
Japanese Aerospace Companies' G-459 – Protein Crystal Growth Experiment
and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory GAS Ballast Can with Sample Return
Experiment.
