Launch from Cape Canaveral (
KSC);
landing on Cape Canaveral (
KSC). This flight was the mission Spacehab-SM. During
the launch the orbiter lost a flap of the parachute box. So the Discovery had
to land without using the drag chute.
Astronaut veteran John
Glenn
(77) returned into space after more than 36 years. Up to date he is the oldest
person to go in space. Experiments on and with John
Glenn
(how do older humans work and feel in space?) were done.
The primary
objectives included conducting a variety of science experiments in the
pressurized Spacehab module, the deployment and retrieval of the Spartan
free-flyer payload, and operations with the HST Orbital Systems Test (HOST) and
the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH) payloads carried in the
payload bay.
The Spacehab module flown on STS-95 was provided by
Spacehab, Inc., a private company which provides single- or double-module
Spacehabs to support
NASA's space flight efforts. The Spacehab system
provides additional pressurized workspace for experiments, cargo and crew
activities. Spacehab modules have supported various Shuttle science missions
along with several of the joint Shuttle-MIR missions.
For STS-95, a
single-module Spacehab flew in the forward portion of Discovery's payload bay
with the crew gaining access to the module through the airlock tunnel system. A
variety of experiments sponsored by
NASA, the Japanese Space Agency (
NASDA) and the European Space Agency (
ESA)
focused on life sciences, microgravity sciences and advanced technology during
the flight.
The
SPARTAN 201-5 free-flyer was deployed and retrieved
using the Shuttle's mechanical arm. It was designed to investigate physical
conditions and processes of the hot outer layers of the Sun's atmosphere, or
solar corona. While deployed from the Shuttle,
SPARTAN gathered measurements of the solar corona and
solar wind. The Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test (HOST) platform
carried experiments to validate components planned for installation during the
third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and to evaluate new technologies
in an earth orbiting environment. The International Extreme Ultraviolet
Hitchhiker (IEH) payload involves a half dozen different experiments mounted on
a support structure which was carried in Discovery's payload bay.