This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone. Are you certain this article is inappropriate? Excessive Violence Sexual Content Political / Social
Email Address:
Article Id: WHEBN0000499451 Reproduction Date:
Left to right: Oswald, Bondar, Thagard, Grabe, Hilmers, Merbold, Readdy
STS-42 was a PST (16:07 UTC) on 30 January 1992 on Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, California.[1] STS-42 was the first of two flights in 1992 of Discovery, the second of which occurred during STS-53, which launched on 2 December 1992. The mission was also the last mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery to have a seven-member crew until STS-82, which was launched on 11 February 1997.
The crew of STS-42 included West Germany's first astronaut, Ulf Merbold, who was making his second spaceflight, and Canada's first female astronaut, Roberta Bondar. In order to allow around-the-clock monitoring of experiments, the astronauts were divided into a red team and a blue team. Manley L. Carter, was originally assigned to fly as Mission Specialist 3 for this mission, but died 7 months prior the launch in a plane crash. David Hilmers was then chosen to replace him.
STS-42 was launched on 22 January 1992, 9:52:33 am EST. The launch was delayed by one hour due to weather constraints. The launch weight was 243,396 pounds (110.403 Mg).
Discovery carried into orbit the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 (IML-1), a pressurized manned microgravity on other life forms such as shrimp eggs, lentil seedlings, fruit fly eggs and bacteria. Low gravity materials processing experiments included crystal growth from a variety of substances such as enzymes, mercury iodine and a virus. Other payloads included 10 Get Away Special (GAS) canisters, a number of middeck payloads and two Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments. Middeck payloads included Gelation of SOLS: Applied Microgravity Research (GOSAMR), Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP) and the Radiation Monitoring Experiment (RME-III).
The mission landed on 30 January 1992, 8:07:17 am PST, Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, CA., after being extended by a day for continued scientific experimentation. The rollout distance was 9,811 feet. The orbiter returned to Kennedy Space Center on 16 February 1992. The landing weight was 218,016 pounds (98.890 Mg).
The four stars in the lower blue field and two stars in the upper blue field of the insignia symbolize the flight's numerical designation in the Space Transportation System's mission sequence. The single gold star above the horizon on the right is in honor of Brunswick, Georgia while on a commercial airplane traveling for NASA. Carter was originally assigned as a mission specialist on STS-42 at the time of his death.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Apollo program, International Space Station, Soviet Union, Mars, Space Shuttle
International Space Station, Nasa, Space Shuttle Atlantis, Apollo program, European Space Agency
International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope, Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, Space Shuttle Endeavour, Sts-41-d
Air Force Materiel Command, United States Air Force, United States Navy, United States Army, World War II
Apollo program, Russia, Nasa, United States, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Soviet Union, Russia, United States, Canada, United Kingdom
Nasa, United States, Florida State University, Canada, Florida
Nasa, Space Shuttle Discovery, California, Edwards Air Force Base, Kennedy Space Center
Space shuttle, Space Shuttle Discovery, Nasa, United States Department of Defense, Kennedy Space Center