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STS-73



 
 
STS-73 was a Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle program

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current Human spaceflight launch vehicle....
 mission, during October-November 1995.



second United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) Spacelab mission will be the prime payload on STS-73. The 16-day flight will continue a cooperative effort of the U.S. government, universities and industry to push back the frontiers of science and technology in "microgravity", the near-weightless environment of space.

Some of the experiments being carried on the USML-2 payload were suggested by the results of the first USML mission that flew aboard Columbia in 1992 during STS-50
STS-50

STS-50 was a United States Space Shuttle mission, the 12th mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia orbiter.Columbia landed at Kennedy Space Center for the first time ever due to bad weather at Edwards Air Force Base caused by the remnants of Hurricane Darby ....
.






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Encyclopedia


STS-73 was a Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle program

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current Human spaceflight launch vehicle....
 mission, during October-November 1995.

Crew

  • Kenneth D. Bowersox (3), Commander
  • Kent V. Rominger (1), Pilot
  • Kathryn C. Thornton
    Kathryn C. Thornton

    Kathryn Ryan Cordell Thornton is an United States scientist and a former NASA astronaut with over 975 hours in space, including 21 hours of extravehicular activity....
     (4), Payload Commander
  • Catherine G. Coleman Ph.D (1), Mission Specialist
  • Michael E. Lopez-Alegria (1), Mission Specialist
  • Fred W. Leslie Ph.D (1), Payload Specialist
  • Albert Sacco Jr. Ph.D (1), Payload Specialist
    • David H. Matthiesen (0) Ph.D, Alternate Payload Specialist
    • R. Glynn Holt (0) Ph.D, Alternate Payload Specialist


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....
    :
    15,250 kg payload
  • Perigee: 241 km
  • Apogee: 241 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....
    :
    39.0°
  • 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....
    :
    89.7 min


Mission highlights

The second United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) Spacelab mission will be the prime payload on STS-73. The 16-day flight will continue a cooperative effort of the U.S. government, universities and industry to push back the frontiers of science and technology in "microgravity", the near-weightless environment of space.

Some of the experiments being carried on the USML-2 payload were suggested by the results of the first USML mission that flew aboard Columbia in 1992 during STS-50
STS-50

STS-50 was a United States Space Shuttle mission, the 12th mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia orbiter.Columbia landed at Kennedy Space Center for the first time ever due to bad weather at Edwards Air Force Base caused by the remnants of Hurricane Darby ....
. The USML-1 mission provided new insights into theoretical models of fluid physics, the role of gravity in combustion and flame spread
Flame spread

Flame spread or surface burning characteristics rating is a ranking derived by laboratory standard test methodology of a material's propensity to burn rapidly and spread flames....
ing, and how gravity affects the formation of semiconductor crystals. Data collected from several protein crystals grown on USML-1 have enabled scientists to determine the molecular structures of those proteins.

USML-2 Builds on that foundation. Technical knowledge gained has been incorporated into the mission plan to enhance procedures and operations. Where possible, experiment teams have refined their hardware to increase scientific understanding of basic physical processes on Earth and in space, as well as to prepare for more advanced operations aboard the international Space Station and other future space programs.

USML-2 Experiments include: the Surface Tension Driven Convection Experiment (STDCE), the Drop Physics Module, the Drop Dynamics Experiment; the Science and Technology of Surface-Controlled Phenomena experiment; the Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell Experiment; the Crystal Growth Furnace, the Orbital Processing of High Quality Cadmium Zinc Telluride Compound Semiconductors experiment; the Study of Dopant Segregation Behavior During the Crystal Growth of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) in Microgravity experiment; the Crystal Growth of Selected II-VI Semiconducting Alloys by Directional Solidification
Directional solidification

Directional solidification is a series of measures applied to control the feeding of castings. As most metals and alloys solidify, changing from the liquid state to the solid state they will undergo an appreciable volume contraction....
 experiment; the Vapor Transport Crystal Growth of Mercury Cadmium Tellurida in Microgravity experiment; the Zeolite Crystal Growth Furnace (ZCG), the Interface Configuration Experiment (ICE), the Oscillatory Thermocapillary Flow Experiment; the Fiber Supported Droplet Combustion Experiment; the Particle Dispersion Experiment; the Single-Locker Protein Crystal Growth experiment; (including the Protein Crystallization Apparatus for Microgravity (PCAM) and the Diffusion-controlled Crystallization Apparatus for Microgravity (DCAM)). the Crystal Growth by Liquid-Liquid Diffusion, the Commercial Protein Crystal Growth experiment; the Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility, Crystallization of Apocrystacyanin C experiment; Crystal Structure Analysis of the Bacteriophage Lamda Lysozyme, Crystallization of RNA Molecules Under Microgravity Conditions experiment; Crystallization of the Protein Grb2 and Triclinic Lysozyme experiment; Microgravity Crystallization of Thermophilic Aspartyl-tRNA Synthetase and Thaumatin experiment; Crystallization in a Microgravity Environment of CcdB experiment; A Multivariate Analysis of X-ray Diffraction Data Obtained from Glutathione S Transferase experiment; Protein Crystal Growth: Light-driven Charge Translocation Through Bacteriorhodopsin experiment; Crystallization of Ribosome experiment; Crystallization of Sulfolobus Solfataricus Alcohol Dehydrogenase experiment; Crystallization of Turnip Yellow Mosaic Virus, Tomato Aspermy Virus, Satellite Panicum Mosaic Virus, Canavalin, Beef Liver Catalase, Concanavalin B experiment; Crystallization of the Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF); Structure of the Membrane-Embedded Protein Complex Photosystem I; Crystallization of Visual Pigment Rhodopsin; Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus; Astroculture Facility and Experiment. Spacelab Glovebox Facility experiments include the Zeolite Crystal Growth Glovebox, Protein Crystal Growth Glovebox and the Colloidal Disorder-Order Transitions,

Sts 73 Landing
USML-2 Flight controllers and experiment scientists will direct science activities from NASA's Spacelab Mission Operations Control facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center. In addition, science teams at several NASA centers and universities will monitor and support operations of a number of experiments.

Other payloads on board include the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE), Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS), Three Dimensional Microgravity Accelerometer (3DMA), Suppression of Transient Accelerations By Levitation Evaluation (STABLE) and the High-Packed Digital Television Technical Demonstration system.

Trivia


During this mission, Mission Specialist
Mission Specialist

A Mission Specialist is a position held by certain NASA astronauts for the Space Shuttle program. A Mission Specialist is assigned to a limited field of the mission, such as for medical tests or technical quests....
 Catherine G. Coleman was overheard reporting to Houston that "...We have an unidentified flying object." This is frequently mistaken to be an actual "UFO" sighting by an astronaut. However, as video footage from the mission shows, the astronaut was not near any window at the time of communication, and her "report" was said in jest and relating to a crewmember floating by.

The entire crew appeared on the February 13, 1996 episode of Home Improvement
Home Improvement

Home Improvement is an situation comedy starring Tim Allen, which aired 1991 to 1999. The show was created by Matt Williams , Carmen Finestra and David MacFadzean....
, "Fear of Flying", on a segment of Tool Time
Tool Time

Tool Time was the fictitious handyman Play-within-a-play in the television situation comedy, Home Improvement. It was hosted by Tim Taylor and Al Borland ....
 .

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


External links