STS-85

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  24889 / 97039A Launch date - time  07 Aug 1997 - 14:41:00 UT Launch site  KSC, LC39A Launch vehicle  Space Shuttle Orbiter  Discovery #23 (OV-103) Primary payload  CRISTA-SPAS Mass (kg)   Earth orbit on :    - Perigee / Apogee  320 km    - Inclination  51.6°    - Period   min Landing date - time  19 Aug 1997 - 11:07:59 UT Landing location  KSC, Runway 33 Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  11d 20h 28m Nbr orbits  189

Flight Crew

Mission details:

Deployed and retrieved the CRISTA-SPAS-2 (the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite-2) designed to study Earth's middle atmosphere. The CRISTA-SPAS-2 was making its second flight on the Space Shuttle and represented the fourth mission in a cooperative venture between the German Space Agency (DARA) and NASA.

CRISTA-SPAS was deployed by the RMS arm at 22:27 GMT on August 7 and was recaptured by Discovery's RMS arm at 15:14 GMT on August 16. Because of unfavorable weather conditions at the primary shuttle landing site at the Kennedy Space Center, Discovery was waved off for its scheduled August 18 landing. STS-85 landed the next day, at Kennedy Space Center at 11:08 GMT.

Cargo Bay Payloads:

Bay 1-2: External Airlock

Bay 5: MPESS (Multi Purpose Experiment Support Structure) with the MFD (Manipulator Flight Demonstration) payload from the Japanese space agency. This was a 'robot hand' that will be at the end of the robot arm being developed for the Japanese space station module.

Bay 6 Port sidewall: A small carrier with the ITEPC radiation dose counter.

Bay 7: MPESS with the TAS-01 payload (Technology Applications and Science) from NASA-Goddard's Hitchhiker-M program. TAS-01 consisted of several GAS cans with science experiments, including the second flight of the Shuttle Laser Altimeter and an instrument to measure the absolute bolometric flux of the Sun.

Bay 9: ASTRO-SPAS, a free flying platform built by Germany's DASA, carrying the CRISTA-SPAS atmospheric science payload on its second mission.

Bay 11 Port sidewall: a small carrier with the ERPCL transmitter/receiver which communicates with SPAS during its flight.

Bay 12: MPESS with the IEH-2 Hitchhiker payload from Goddard. The International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker was a joint NASA-Italian astronomy payload. Its two main instruments were the UVSTAR ultraviolet spectrograph and the SEH solar extreme ultraviolet instrument. The MPESS also carried the GLO-5 and GLO-6 airglow studies and the Data-Chaser technology experiment. UVSTAR's main objective is to study the extreme UV emissions from the Io plasma torus around Jupiter.

Bay 13 Starboard sidewall: GABA (GAS Beam Adapter) with two GAS experiment cans, G-572 and G-745. G-572 has experiments from Bellermine College and Utah State, and G-745 has student experiments from Mayo High School.

In-Cabin Payloads: BDS-03; BRIC; PCG-STES-05; ACIS; MSX; SIMPLEX; SWUIS; SSCE.

Developmental Test Objectives
Detailed Supplementary Objectives
Risk Mitigation Experiments