STS-56

STS-56
	Components of the ATLAS-2 laboratory in the payload bay of Discovery
Names	Space Transportation System-56
Mission type	Scientific research
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1993-023A
SATCAT no.	22621
Mission duration	9 days, 6 hours, 8 minutes, 19 seconds
Distance travelled	6,202,407 km (3,853,997 mi)
Orbits completed	148
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Discovery
Landing mass	93,683 kg (206,536 lb)
Payload mass	7,026 kg (15,490 lb)
Crew
Crew size	5
Members	Kenneth D. Cameron; Stephen S. Oswald; Michael Foale; Kenneth Cockrell; Ellen Ochoa;
Start of mission
Launch date	April 8, 1993, 05:29:00 UTC (1:29 am EDT)
Launch site	Kennedy, LC-39B
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	April 17, 1993, 11:37:19 UTC (7:37:19 am EDT)
Landing site	Kennedy, SLF Runway 33
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Periapsis altitude	291 km (181 mi)
Apoapsis altitude	299 km (186 mi)
Inclination	57.00°
Period	90.40 minutes
Instruments
	Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR); Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS); Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS); Commercial Materials dispersion apparatus Instrumentation technology associates Experiment (CMIX); Cosmic Ray Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM); Get Away Special (GAS); Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting and Environmental System (HERCULES); Millimeter Wave Atmospheric Sounder (MAS); Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE); Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME III); Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX II); Solar Spectroscopy Instrument (SOLSPEC); Solar Ultraviolet Experiment (SUVE); Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV/A); Solar Constant (SOLCON); Space Tissue Loss (STL-1); Solar Ultraviolet Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM);
	; STS-56 mission patch; ; Standing: Cockrell, Foale, Ochoa; Seated: Oswald, Cameron Space Shuttle program ← STS-54 (53) STS-55 (55) →

STS-56 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission to perform special experiments. It was Discovery's 16th flight. The mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 8, 1993.

Crew


Position	Astronaut
Commander	Kenneth D. Cameron Second spaceflight
Pilot	Stephen S. Oswald Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1	/ Michael Foale Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2 Flight Engineer	Kenneth Cockrell First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3	Ellen Ochoa First spaceflight

Crew seat assignments

Seat^[1]	Launch	Landing	Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
1	Cameron
2	Oswald
3	Foale	Ochoa
4	Cockrell
5	Ochoa	Foale
6	Unused
7	Unused

Mission highlights

Attempt	Planned	Result	Turnaround	Reason	Decision point	Weather go (%)	Notes
1	6 Apr 1993, 1:32:00 am	Scrubbed	—	Technical	6 Apr 1993, 1:31 am (T−00:00:11)	80^[2]	Liquid hydrogen bleed valve was indicated as open when it was actually closed as required.^[3]
2	8 Apr 1993, 1:29:00 am	Success	1 day 23 hours 57 minutes			90^[4]

The primary payload of the flight was the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-2 (ATLAS-2),^[5]^: 1 designed to collect data on the relationship between the Sun's energy output and Earth's middle atmosphere and how these factors affect the ozone layer. It included six instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet in the cargo bay, with the seventh mounted on the wall of the bay in two Get Away Special (GAS) canisters. Atmospheric instruments included the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) experiment, the Millimeter Wave Atmospheric Sounder (MAS), and the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV/A) spectrometer (on the cargo bay wall). Solar science instruments were the solar spectrometry instrument SOLSPEC,^[6] the Solar Ultraviolet Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM), and the Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR) and Solar Constant (SOLCON) experiments.^[3]

ATLAS-2 is one element of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program. All seven ATLAS-2 instruments first flew on ATLAS-1 during STS-45, and flew a third time in late 1994 on STS-66.^[3]

On April 11, 1993, the crew used the remote manipulator arm (Canadarm) to deploy the Shuttle Point Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-201 (SPARTAN-201), a free-flying science instrument platform designed to study velocity and acceleration of the solar wind and observe the Sun's corona. Collected data was stored on tape for playback after return to Earth. SPARTAN-201 was retrieved on April 13, 1993.^[3]

The crew also made numerous radio contacts to schools around the world using the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX II), including brief radio contact with the Russian Mir space station, the first such contact between Space Shuttle and Mir using amateur radio equipment.^[7] It was arguably the first time that the astronauts received amateur television video from the ham radio club station (W5RRR) at JSC.^[3]

Other cargo bay payloads were the Solar Ultraviolet Experiment (SUVE), sponsored by Colorado Space Grant Consortium and located in a GetAway Special canister on the cargo bay wall.^[3]

The middeck payloads were the Commercial Materials Dispersion Apparatus Instrumentation Technology Associates Experiment (CMIX), the Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE), Space Tissue Loss (STL-1) experiment, the Cosmic Ray Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM) experiment. the Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting and Environmental System (HERCULES), Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME III), and an Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) calibration test.^[3]

Gallery

Launch of STS-56
SPARTAN-201
Payload bay view with ATLAS pallet

References

^ "STS-56". Spacefacts. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
^ "Discovery to lift off tomorrow". Observer–Reporter. Associated Press. April 5, 1993. p. A6. Retrieved December 4, 2024 – via Google News.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Ryba, Jeanne. "STS-56". NASA. Retrieved March 11, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ "NASA ready for launch... again". Observer–Reporter. Associated Press. April 8, 1993. p. A3. Retrieved December 4, 2024 – via Google News.
^ Fricke, Robert W. (July 1, 1993). STS-56 Space Shuttle mission report (PDF) (Report). NASA. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
^ "Background". SOLSPEC. Institut Pierre Simon Laplace. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
^ Legler, Robert D.; Bennett, Floyd V. (September 1, 2011). "Space Shuttle Missions Summary" (PDF). Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program Office. NASA. p. 2-64. NASA/TM–2011–216142. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links

NASA mission summary Archived September 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
STS-56 Video Highlights Archived July 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

[1] "STS-56". Spacefacts. Retrieved July 29, 2024.

[2] "Discovery to lift off tomorrow". Observer–Reporter. Associated Press. April 5, 1993. p. A6. Retrieved December 4, 2024 – via Google News.

[STS-56_Mission_Summary-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Ryba, Jeanne. "STS-56". NASA. Retrieved March 11, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[4] "NASA ready for launch... again". Observer–Reporter. Associated Press. April 8, 1993. p. A3. Retrieved December 4, 2024 – via Google News.

[STS-56_Mission_Report-5] Fricke, Robert W. (July 1, 1993). STS-56 Space Shuttle mission report (PDF) (Report). NASA. Retrieved December 4, 2024.

[SOLSPEC-6] "Background". SOLSPEC. Institut Pierre Simon Laplace. Retrieved March 11, 2022.

[STIsummary-7] Legler, Robert D.; Bennett, Floyd V. (September 1, 2011). "Space Shuttle Missions Summary" (PDF). Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program Office. NASA. p. 2-64. NASA/TM–2011–216142. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

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v t e Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103)
Completed flights	STS-41-D STS-51-A STS-51-C STS-51-D STS-51-G STS-51-I STS-26 STS-29 STS-33 STS-31 STS-41 STS-39 STS-48 STS-42 STS-53 STS-56 STS-51 STS-60 STS-64 STS-63 STS-70 STS-82 STS-85 STS-91 STS-95 STS-96 STS-103 STS-92 STS-102 STS-105 STS-114 STS-121 STS-116 STS-120 STS-124 STS-119 STS-128 STS-131 STS-133
Status	Retired
On display	Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington, D.C.
Related	Destiny in Space (1994 documentary)

v t e ← 1992 Orbital launches in 1993 1994 →
January	Kosmos 2230 Molniya 1-85 STS-54 (TDRS-6) Kosmos 2231 Soyuz TM-16 Kosmos 2232
February	USA-88 Kosmos 2233 SCD-1, Orbcomm CDS-1 Kosmos 2234, Kosmos 2235, Kosmos 2236 Asuka Progress M-16
March	Gran' No.42L EKA-1 UFO F-1 Kosmos 2237 USA-90, SEDS-1 Kosmos 2238 Progress M-17
April	Kosmos 2239 Kosmos 2240 Kosmos 2241 STS-56 (SPARTAN 201) Kosmos 2242 Molniya-3 No.57 ALEXIS, Orbcomm CDS-2 STS-55 Kosmos 2243 Kosmos 2244
May	Kosmos 2245, Kosmos 2246, Kosmos 2247, Kosmos 2248, Kosmos 2249, Kosmos 2250 Astra 1C, Arsene USA-91 Resurs-F2 No.9 Progress M-18 Molniya-1T No.81 Gorizont No.39L
June	Kosmos 2251 STS-57 Kosmos 2252, Kosmos 2253, Kosmos 2254, Kosmos 2255, Kosmos 2256, Kosmos 2257 Galaxy 4 Resurs-F1 No.57 Radcal USA-92, PMG
July	Soyuz TM-17 Kosmos 2258 Kosmos 2259 USA-93 Kosmos 2260 Hispasat 1B, INSAT-2B
August	Unnamed, Unnamed, Unnamed, SLDCOM-3 Molniya-3 No.58 NOAA-13 Kosmos 2261 Progress M-19 Resurs-F1 No.56 USA-94 Meteor-2 No.24, Temisat
September	USA-95 Kosmos 2262 STS-51 (ACTS, ORFEUS-SPAS) Kosmos 2263 Kosmos 2264 IRS-P1 SPOT-3, Stella, KITSAT-2, Itamsat, Eyesat-1, PoSAT-1, Healthsat-2 Gran' 41L
October	Landsat 6 FSW-15 Progress M-20 STS-58 Intelsat 701 Kosmos 2265 USA-96 Gorizont No.40L
November	Kosmos 2266 Kosmos 2267 Gorizont No.41L Solidaridad 2, Meteosat 6 USA-97
December	STS-61 USA-98 Telstar 401 DirecTV-1, Thaicom 1 Molniya 1-87
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).