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STS-52 was a Space Transportation System (NASA Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle program

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current Human spaceflight launch vehicle....
) mission, launched 22 October 1992.



ary mission objectives were deployment of the Laser Geodynamic Satellite II (LAGEOS
LAGEOS

LAGEOS, or Laser Geodynamics Satellites, are a series of scientific research satellites designed to provide an orbiting satellite laser ranging benchmark for geodynamical studies of the Earth....
-II) and operation of the U.S. Microgravity Payload-1 (USMP-1). LAGEOS-II, a joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency
Italian Space Agency

The Italian Space Agency was founded in 1988 to promote, coordinate, and conduct outer space activities in Italy. Operating under the Ministry of the Universities and Scientific and Technological Research, the Agency cooperates with numerous international and Italian entities, who are active in space technology, and with the Italian Presiden...
 (ASI), was deployed on day 2 and boosted into an initial elliptical orbit by ASI's Italian Research Interim Stage (IRIS).






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Encyclopedia


STS-52 was a Space Transportation System (NASA Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle program

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current Human spaceflight launch vehicle....
) mission, launched 22 October 1992.

Crew

  • James D. Wetherbee (2), Commander
  • Michael A. Baker
    Michael A. Baker

    Michael Allen Baker is a retired United States Navy captain NASA astronaut, and the International Space Station Program Manager for International and Crew Operations, at NASA's Johnson Space Center....
     (2), Pilot
  • Charles L. Veach
    Charles L. Veach

    Charles Lacy Veach was a NASA astronaut....
     (2), Mission Specialist 1
  • William M. Shepherd (3), Mission Specialist 2
  • Tamara E. Jernigan
    Tamara E. Jernigan

    Tamara Elizabeth "Tammy" Jernigan, Ph.D. is an United States scientist and former NASA astronaut and a veteran of five shuttle missions....
     (2), Mission Specialist 3
  • Steven G. MacLean (1), Payload Specialist 1 - CSA
    Canadian Space Agency

    The Canadian Space Agency is the Canadian government space agency responsible for Canada's outer space program. It was established in March 1989 by the Canadian Space Agency Act and sanctioned in December 1990....


Mission parameters

  • Mass
    Mass

    In physical science, mass refers to the degree of acceleration a body acquires when subject to a force: bodies with greater mass are accelerated less by the same force....
    :
    • Orbiter landing with payload: 97,201 kg
    • Payload: 8,078 kg
  • Perigee: 304 km
  • Apogee: 307 km
  • Inclination
    Inclination

    Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or Axis_of_rotation of direction. The axial tilt is expressed as the angle made by the planet's axis and a line drawn through the planet's center perpendicular to the orbital plane....
    :     28.5°
  • Period
    Orbital period

    The orbital Periodicity is the time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit about another object.When mentioned without further qualification in astronomy this refers to the sidereal period of an astronomical object, which is calculated with respect to the stars....
    :     90.6 min


Mission highlights

Primary mission objectives were deployment of the Laser Geodynamic Satellite II (LAGEOS
LAGEOS

LAGEOS, or Laser Geodynamics Satellites, are a series of scientific research satellites designed to provide an orbiting satellite laser ranging benchmark for geodynamical studies of the Earth....
-II) and operation of the U.S. Microgravity Payload-1 (USMP-1). LAGEOS-II, a joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency
Italian Space Agency

The Italian Space Agency was founded in 1988 to promote, coordinate, and conduct outer space activities in Italy. Operating under the Ministry of the Universities and Scientific and Technological Research, the Agency cooperates with numerous international and Italian entities, who are active in space technology, and with the Italian Presiden...
 (ASI), was deployed on day 2 and boosted into an initial elliptical orbit by ASI's Italian Research Interim Stage (IRIS). The spacecraft's apogee kick motor later circularized LAGEOS orbit at its operational altitude of 3,666 miles. The USMP-1, activated on day one, included three experiments mounted on two connected Mission Peculiar Equipment Support Structures (MPESS) mounted in the orbiter's cargo bay. USMP-1 experiments were: Lambda Point Experiment; Matériel Pour L'Etude Des Phénomènes Intéressant La Solidification Sur Et En Orbite (MEPHISTO), sponsored by the French agency Centre National d'Études Spatiales
CNES

The is the France government space agency . Its headquarters are located in central Paris. It operates out of the Centre Spatial Guyanais, but also has payloads launched from other space centres operated by other countries....
; and Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS).

Secondary payloads: (1) Canadian experiment, CANEX-2, located in both the orbiter's cargo bay and middeck and which consisted of Space Vision System (SVS); Materials Exposure in Low-Earth Orbit (MELEO); Queen's University Experiment in Liquid-Metal Diffusion (QUELD); Phase Partitioning in Liquids (PARLIQ); Sun Photospectrometre Earth Atmosphere Measurement-2 (SPEAM-2); Orbiter Glow-2 (OGLOW-2); and Space Adaptation Tests and Observations (SATO). A small, specially marked satellite, the Canadian Target Assembly, was deployed on day nine, to support SVS experiments. (2) ASP, featuring three independent sensors mounted on a Hitchhiker plate in the cargo bay -, Modular Star Sensor (MOSS), Yaw Earth Sensor (YES) and Low Altitude Conical Earth Sensor (LACES), all provided by the European Space Agency.

Other middeck payloads: Commercial Materials Dispersion Apparatus Instrument Technology Associates Experiments; Commercial Protein Crystal Growth experiment; Chemical Vapor Transport Experiment; Heat Pipe Performance Experiment; Physiological Systems Experiment (involving 12 rodents); and Shuttle Plume Impingement Experiment. The orbiter also was used as a reference point for calibrating an Ultraviolet Plume Instrument on an orbiting Strategic Defense Initiative Organization satellite.

The Tank Pressure Control Experiment/Thermal Phenomena (TPCE/TP) was contained in a Getaway Special
Getaway Special

NASA's Getaway Special program offers interested individuals or groups, opportunities to fly small experiments aboard the Space Shuttle....
 (GAS) canister in the orbiter's cargo bay.

See also

  • Space science
    Space science

    Space science is an all-encompassing term that describes all of the various science fields that are concerned with the study of the Universe, generally also meaning "excluding the Earth" and "outside of the Earth's atmosphere"....
  • Space shuttle
    Space Shuttle

    NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
  • List of space shuttle missions
    List of space shuttle missions

    This is a list of missions flown by space shuttles. As of 2009, only the United States has flown human spaceflight Space Shuttle missions in the Space Shuttle program, while the Soviet Union flew one unmanned flight of the Buran ....
  • List of human spaceflights chronologically


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