Launch from Cape Canaveral (
KSC);
landing on Cape Canaveral (
KSC).
STS-90 became the final mission of
Spacelab, the mission Neurolab. The goals of Neurolab are to study basic
research questions and to increase the understanding of the mechanisms
responsible for neurological and behavioral changes in space. Specifically,
experiments will study the adaptation of the vestibular system and space
adaptation syndrome, the adaptation of the central nervous system and the
pathways which control the ability to sense location in the absence of gravity,
and the effect of microgravity on a developing nervous system.
Neurolabs 26 experiments targeted one of the most complex and
least understood parts of the human body the nervous system. Primary
goals were to conduct basic research in neurosciences and expand understanding
of how the nervous system develops and functions in space. Test subjects were
rats, mice, crickets, snails, two kinds of fish and the crew members
themselves. Cooperative effort of
NASA, several domestic partners and the space agencies
of Canada (
CSA), France (
CNES) and Germany (DARA), as well as the European
Space Agency (
ESA) and the National Space Development Agency of
Japan (
NASDA). Most experiments conducted in pressurized
Spacelab long module located in Columbias payload bay. This was 16th and
last scheduled flight of the
ESA
developed Spacelab module although Spacelab pallets will continue to be used on
the International Space Station.
Three sevenths of the STS-90 crew
(Dafydd
Williams, James
Pawelczyk and Jay
Buckey) appeared on the Canadian television series Popular
Mechanics for Kids. Working with engineers on the ground a week into the
flight, the on-orbit crew used aluminum tape to bypass a suspect valve in the
Regenerative Carbon Dioxide Removal System that had threatened to cut short the
mission.
Other payloads included the Shuttle Vibration Forces
experiment, the Bioreactor Demonstration System-04, and three Get-Away Special
(GAS) canister investigations.