STS-75 was a United States
Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle, part of the Space Transportation System , is a spacecraft operated by NASA for orbital human spaceflight missions. It began operations in the 1980s and is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010 after 134 launches...
mission, the 19th mission of the
ColumbiaSpace Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it flew a total of 27 times before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 on the STS-107 mission , killing all seven...
orbiter.
- Mass
In physics, mass commonly refers to any of three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent: inertial mass, active gravitational mass and passive gravitational mass...
: 10,592 kg payload
- Perigee: 277 km
- Apogee: 320 km
- Inclination
Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.- Orbits :The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...
: 28.5°
- Period
The orbital period 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.There are several kinds of...
: 90.5 min
The primary objective of STS-75 was to carry the Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R) into orbit and to deploy it spaceward on a conducting tether.
STS-75 was a United States
Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle, part of the Space Transportation System , is a spacecraft operated by NASA for orbital human spaceflight missions. It began operations in the 1980s and is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010 after 134 launches...
mission, the 19th mission of the
ColumbiaSpace Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it flew a total of 27 times before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 on the STS-107 mission , killing all seven...
orbiter.
Crew
Mission parameters
- Mass
In physics, mass commonly refers to any of three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent: inertial mass, active gravitational mass and passive gravitational mass...
: 10,592 kg payload
- Perigee: 277 km
- Apogee: 320 km
- Inclination
Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.- Orbits :The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...
: 28.5°
- Period
The orbital period 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.There are several kinds of...
: 90.5 min
Mission objective
The primary objective of STS-75 was to carry the Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R) into orbit and to deploy it spaceward on a conducting tether. The mission also flew the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-3) designed to investigate materials science and condensed matter physics.
The TSS-1R mission was a reflight of TSS-1 which was flown onboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on
STS-46STS-46 was a NASA space shuttle mission launched in 1992.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter landing with payload: 94,676 kg**Payload: 12,164 kg*Perigee: 425 km*Apogee: 437 km...
in July/August 1992. The
Tether Satellite SystemA tether satellite is a satellite connected to another by a thin cable called a tether. The "space tether" idea had its origin in the late 1800s...
circled the Earth at an altitude of 296 kilometers, placing the tether system within the rarefied electrically charged layer of the atmosphere known as the
ionosphereThe ionosphere is the uppermost part of the atmosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere...
.
STS-75 mission scientist hoped to deploy the tether to a distance of . Over 19 kilometers of the tether were deployed before the tether broke. It remained in orbit for a number of weeks and was easily visible from the ground, appearing something like a small but surprisingly bright fluorescent light traveling through the sky.
The specific TSS1-R mission objectives were: characterize the current-voltage response of the TSS-orbiter system, characterize the satellite's high-voltage sheath structure and current collection process, demonstrate electric power generation, verify tether control laws and basic tether dynamics, demonstrate the effect of neutral gas on the plasma sheath and current collection, characterize the TSS radio frequency and plasma wave emissions and characterize the TSS dynamic-electrodynamic coupling.
TSS-1R Science Investigations included: TSS Deployer Core Equipment and Satellite Core Equipment (DCORE/SCORE), Research on Orbital Plasma Electrodynamics (ROPE), Research on Electrodynamic Tether Effects (RETE), Magnetic Field Experiment for TSS Missions (TEMAG), Shuttle Electrodynamic Tether System (SETS), Shuttle Potential and Return Electron Experiment (SPREE), Tether Optical Phenomena Experiment (TOP), Investigation of Electromagnetic Emissions by the Electrodynamic Tether (EMET), Observations at the Earth's Surface of Electromagnetic Emissions by TSS (OESSE), Investigation and Measurement of Dynamic Noise in the TSS (IMDN), Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of TSS Dynamics (TEID) and the Theory and Modeling in Support of Tethered Satellite Applications (TMST).
The USMP-3 payload consisted of four major experiments mounted on two Mission Peculiar Experiment Support Structures (MPESS) and three Shuttle Mid-deck experiments. The experiments were: Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF), Material pour l'Etude des Phenomenes Interessant la Solidification sur Terre et en Orbite (MEPHISTO), Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS), Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE), Critical Fluid Light Scattering Experiment (ZENO) and Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE).
STS-75 also was the first use of
LinuxLinux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed,...
operating system on orbit. An older Digital Unix program, originally on DEC Alpha servers, was ported to run on Linux on a laptop. The next use of Linux was a year later, on
STS-83STS-83 was a mission of the United States Space Shuttle Columbia.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter Landing with payload: 117,802 kg**MSL-1 Spacelab Module: 10,169 kg*Perigee: 298 km*Apogee: 302 km...
.
STS-75 was the shuttle mission described in the fictional NASA
Document 12-571-3570Document 12-571-3570 is a fictional document originally posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.sex on November 28, 1989. According to this document, astronauts aboard space shuttle mission STS-75 performed a variety of sex acts to determine which positions are most effective in zero gravity...
, although this document was disseminated several years before STS-75 was launched. The document purports to report on experiments to determine effective
sexual positions in microgravitySex in space is human sexual activity in weightless and extreme environments of space. The act of human intimacy, sexual intercourse, and procreation distinguished by the state of weightlessness presents difficulties surrounding the performing of most sexual activities due to Newton's Third Law...
. Astronomer and scientific writer Pierre Kohler mistook this document for fact and is responsible for a major increase in its redistribution in the early 21st century.
Excerpts of video footage shot from STS-75 have been widely circulated by
UFO conspiracy theoryA UFO conspiracy theory is any one of many often overlapping conspiracy theories which argue that evidence of the reality of unidentified flying objects is being suppressed. They commonly argue that Earth governments, especially the Government of the United States are in fact in communication or...
advocates, who insist that anomalies in the footage represent an unexplained paranormal phenomenon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuFBUS0kiSA The STS-75 crew identified the "UFOs" as small particles of debris, filmed out of focus. Independent space expert
James ObergJames Edward Oberg is an American space journalist and historian, regarded as an expert on the Russian space program....
wrote an analysis of the UFO claims, confirming this explanation in detail.
http://www.rense.com/general/stsd.htm
External links