STS-54 was a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Space Transportation System The Space Transportation System (STS), also known internally to NASA as the Integrated Program Plan (IPP), was a proposed system of reusable crewed space vehicles envisioned in 1969 to support extended operations beyond the Apollo program. ...

'' (

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

) mission using Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. This was the third flight for ''Endeavour'', and was launched on January 13, 1993 with Endeavour returning to the Kennedy Space Center on January 19, 1993.

Crew

Mission highlights

The primary payload was the fifth TDRS satellite,

TDRS-F TDRS-6, known before launch as TDRS-F, is an American communications satellite, of first generation, which is operated by NASA as part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. It was constructed by TRW, and is based on a custom satelli ...

, which was deployed on day one of the mission. It was later successfully transferred to its proper orbit by the

Inertial Upper Stage The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a two-stage, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for raising payloads from low Earth orbit to h ...

(IUS). Also carried into orbit in the payload bay was a Hitchhiker experiment called the Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer (DXS). This instrument collected data on

X-ray radiation X-rays (or rarely, ''X-radiation'') are a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. In many languages, it is referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered it in 1895 and named it ''X ...

from diffuse sources in deep space. Other middeck payloads to test the effects of

microgravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...

included the Commercial General Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGPA) for-life sciences research; the Chromosome and Plant Cell Division in Space Experiment (CHROMEX) to-study plant growth; the Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE) to examine the

skeletal system A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

and the adaptation of

bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

to space flight; the Space Acceleration Measurement Equipment (SAMS) to measure and record the microgravity

acceleration In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by the ...

environment of middeck experiments; and the Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE) to measure the rate of

flame spread A flame (from Latin ''flamma'') is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction taking place in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density they a ...

and temperature of burning filter paper. Also, on day five, mission specialists Mario Runco Jr. and

Gregory J. Harbaugh Gregory Jordan "Greg" Harbaugh is an aeronautical/astronautical engineer and former NASA astronaut. He flew on four space shuttle missions as a mission specialist with responsibilities that included Remote Manipulator System (RMS) operation and E ...

spent nearly 5 hours in the open cargo bay performing a series of space-walking tasks designed to increase

's knowledge of working in space. They tested their abilities to move about freely in the cargo bay, climb into foot restraints without using their hands and simulated carrying large objects in the

microgravity environment The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...

. The EVA completed after 4 hours, 28 minutes. The EVA was a late addition to the mission plan as part of NASA's objectives to hone EVA skills required for hardware assembly anticipating the International Space Station. The mission completed on January 19, 1993 with a landing at Kennedy Space Center.

References

External links

NASA mission summary
{{Orbital launches in 1993 Space Shuttle missions Spacecraft launched in 1993

Crew

Mission highlights

See also

References

External links