STS-40

Mission emblem

Mission dates

Mission:

STS-40

COSPAR-ID :

1991-040A

Crew:

7th

Begin:

June 5, 1991, 13:24:51 UTC

Starting place:

Kennedy Space Center , LC-39B

Landing:

June 14, 1991, 15:39:11 UTC

Landing place:

Edwards Air Force Base , runway 22

Flight duration:

9d 2h 14m 20s

Earth orbits:

146

Rotation time :

90.1 min

Orbit inclination :

39.0 °

Apogee :

302 km

Perigee :

276 km

Covered track:

6.0 million km

Payload:

Spacelab

Team photo

v. l. No. Drew Gaffney, Bryan O'Connor, Millie Hughes-Fulford, Tamara Jernigan, Rhea Seddon, Sidney Gutierrez, James Bagian

◄ Before / After ►

STS-39

STS-43

STS-40 ( english S pace T ransportation S ystem) is a mission designation for the US Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) NASA . The launch took place on June 5, 1991. It was the 41st space shuttle mission and the eleventh flight of the Columbia space shuttle.

team

Main team

Bryan O'Connor (2nd spaceflight), commander
Sidney Gutierrez (1st space flight), pilot
James Bagian (2nd spaceflight), mission specialist
Tamara Jernigan (1st spaceflight), mission specialist
Rhea Seddon (2nd spaceflight), mission specialist
Drew Gaffney (1st spaceflight), payload specialist
Millie Hughes-Fulford (1st Spaceflight), Payload Specialist

replacement

Robert Phillips for Gaffney and Hughes-Fulford.

Mission parameters

Mass :

12,374 kg payload
102,283 kg total weight on landing (including payload)

maximum earth distance : 296 km
minimum earth distance : 287 km
Earth orbit time : 90.4 min

Mission description

The mission was originally scheduled to start on May 22, 1991. This was postponed less than 48 hours before take-off because defects were found on a measuring sensor for liquid hydrogen in the main drive during a check carried out in 1990 . Engineers feared that one or more of the nine hydrogen and oxygen sensors that monitor the fuel and oxygen lines could break off and damage the engine pumps, leading to an engine failure.

In addition, one of the five general-purpose computers in the orbiter failed, as did a multiplexer / demultiplexer for the hydraulics in the rear.

A new computer and a new multiplexer / demultiplexer were installed and tested. One hydrogen and two oxygen sensors at the beginning of the fuel lines were replaced, as well as three oxygen sensors near the engines, three hydrogen sensors were removed without replacement. The start was scheduled for June 1, 8 a.m., but was postponed again after several attempts to calibrate the idle measuring unit 2 had failed. This module was also replaced and tested, the start is planned for June 5th. The total mass of the orbiter at launch was 114,290 kg.

Spacelab Life Sciences Mission 1 was the fifth Spacelab mission and the first to focus exclusively on life sciences . The objects of investigation were the crew members themselves, 26 rats and around 2,400 young jellyfish. The research concerned 6 areas of the body, which were examined according to 18 different parameters. They affected the organs of the chest ( heart , lungs and blood vessels ), the endocrine system ( kidneys , hormone-releasing organs and glands), the blood (blood plasma), the immune system (white blood cells), muscles and skeleton as well as the nervous system ( brain , nerve tracts , Eye and inner ear ). For the first time, it was not only possible to make extensive comparisons between men and women, but also between humans and animals. The experiments were prepared, carried out and evaluated in international cooperation between the USA, the USSR, Germany and France.

The payload also included twelve Getaway Special (GAS) canisters for experiments on materials science, biology and cosmic rays, the Middeck Zero-Gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE) and seven Orbiter Experiments (OEX) .

The landing was on June 14 at 8:39:11 a.m. PDT on runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The landing weight was 102,755 kg, the coasting distance was 2866 m, the coasting time 55 seconds. The orbiter returned to the Kennedy Space Center on June 21 .