STS-69

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STS-69
Organization NASA-Office of Space Flight (United States)
Mission type Human Crew,Life Science,Microgravity
Launch date September 7, 1995 (1995-09-07)
Launch vehicle Space Shuttle
Launch site Cape Canaveral, United States
COSPAR ID 1995-048A
Inclination 28.45 degrees
Experiments Here
Alternate Names OV-105,23667
Additional Information Here
PDMP Information Here
Telecommunications Information Here
Data Collection Here
Payload Mass Up 11499 kg
Payload Mass Down 11501.82 kg
Orbiter Endeavour
Lift Off Mass 2,054,608.64 kg
Orbiter Weight at Liftoff 116,730.91 kg
Orbiter Weight at Landing 99,948.64 kg
Landed Concrete runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Orbits of Earth 171
Orbital Altitude 200 nautical miles (230 statute miles)


Contents

Crew

  • Commander: David M. Walker
  • Pilot: Kenneth D. Cockrell
    • Payload Commander: James S. Voss
    • Mission Specialist 1: James H. Newman
    • Mission Specialist 2: Michael L. Gernhardt
    • Mission Specialist 3:
    • Mission Specialist 4:
    • Mission Specialist 5:
    • Payload Specialist 1:
    • Payload Specialist 2:


ISS/Mir Crew Transport


Mission

STS 69 was an American shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral. Its main mission was to release and recapture Spartan 201 and WSF 2. Leading the 5 person crew was Mission Commander David M. Walker, making his fourth space flight. The Pilot for the mission was Kenneth D. Cockrell and the 3 Mission Specialists were James S. Voss, Jim Newman, and Michael L. Gernhardt. STS 69 marked the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility-2 (WSF-2), a 12-foot diameter, stainless steel disk deployed and retrieved using the Shuttle robot arm. While the WSF flew free of the Shuttle, it generated an "ultra-vacuum" environment in space within which to grow thin semiconductor films for next-generation advanced electronics. The commercial applications for these new semiconductors include digital cellular telephones, high-speed transistors and processors, fiber optics, opto-electronics and high-definition TV. The Spartan 201 free-flyer made its third flight aboard STS 69. It was a scientific research effort aimed at the investigation of the interaction between the sun and its outflowing wind of charged particles. Spartan's goal was to study the outer atmosphere of the sun and its transition into the solar wind that constantly flows past the Earth. This flight of Spartan 201 was intended to coincide with the passage of the Ulysses spacecraft over the sun's north polar region. This was also the first flight of the International Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH-1), the first of 5 planned flights to measure and monitor long-term variations in the magnitude of absolute extreme ultraviolet (EUV) flux coming from the sun, and to study EUV emissions from the plasma torus system around Jupiter originating from its moon Io. Also flown aboard Endeavour was the combined Capillary Pumped Loop-2/Gas Bridge Assambly (CAPL-2/GBA) payload. This experiment consisted of the CAPL-2 Hitchhiker payload designed as an in-orbit microgravity demonstration of a cooling system planned for the Earth Observing System Program and the Thermal Energy Storage-2 payload, part of an effort to develop advanced energy generation techniques. Also a part of this payload were several Get Away Special (GAS) experiments which investigated areas such as the interaction of spacecraft attitude and orbit control systems with spacecraft structures, fluid-filled beams as structural dampers in space and the effects of smoldering combustion in a long-term microgravity environment. STS 69 was the 9th flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour and the 71st flight of the Space Transportation System.


EVA

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) conducted by James Voss and Michael Gernhardt, 6 hours, 45 minutes. Voss and Gernhardt performed a number of tasks designed to evaluate and verify specific assembly and maintenance techniques and tools for the International Space Station. They also evaluated spacesuit design modifications to protect spacewalkers from the extremely cold space environment as well as an electronic cuff checklist device worn on the wrist.


Payload

Wake Shield Facility (WSF) 2; Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN) 201; International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH)1; Inter-Mars Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (ITEPC); Extravehicular Activity Development Flight Test (EDFT) 2; Capillary Pumped Loop (CAPL) 2/getaway special (GAS) bridge assembly with five GAS payloads; Auroral Photography Experiment (APE) B; Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC); Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA), Configuration A; Electrolysis Performance Improvement Concept Study (EPICS); Space Tissue Loss (STL)/National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Cells (C); Commercial Middeck Instrumentation Technology Associates Experiment (CMIX)


Mission patch:

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