| astronautix.com | STS-87 |
OV-102 Columbia was launched on a microgravity science mission. Spartan 201 was released a day late on November 21. However the satellite did not start its automatic orientation maneuver because the crew failed to send it the correct commands prior to release.
Spartan was recaptured by hand, during a spacewalk by Takao Doi and Winston Scott on November 25. Tests of space station tools went well, but the free-flying Sprint camera subsatellite was not deployed due to lack of time.
NASA decided not to redeploy Spartan on this mission. During an EVA on Dec 3, Doi and Scott carried out more tests of the Space Station crane. They also deployed the AERCam/Sprint 'football' remote-controlled camera for a free flight in the payload bay.
Columbia landed on December 5, with a deorbit burn at 11:21 GMT. Touchdown was at 12:20 GMT at Kennedy Space Center.
Solid rocket motors RSRM-63 separated two minutes after launch. The orbiter rolled to a heads up position five minutes after launch, in a test of communications via the TDRS comsat. Main engine cutoff and separation of External Tank ET-89 came at T+8 minutes, leaving OV-102 in an elliptical transfer orbit. It then entered a 300 km circular orbit at 28 deg inclination.
Spartan 201 was released a day late (because of a safemode event on the SOHO satellite whose results it will calibrate), at 21:05 GMT on November 21. However the satellite did not start its automatic orientation maneuver because the crew failed to send it the correct commands prior to release. Mission specialist Chalwa moved the robot arm in to grapple it again at about 21:10 GMT. The grapple was unsuccessful and the Spartan was left tumbling. At 22:10 it was decided to move away from Spartan for the day.
Spartan was recaptured by hand, during a spacewalk by Takao Doi and Winston Scott that began at started at 00:02 GMT November 25. After patiently waiting for over two hours as SPARTAN slowly rotated above their heads, the astronauts grabbed the Spartan satellite at 02:09 GMT, then lowered it onto its berth in the payload bay. The astronauts had difficulty berthing it so Chalwa grappled it with the RMS arm and berthed it around 033:0 GMT. The spacewalk ended 07:45 GMT. The tests of space station tools went well, but the free-flying Sprint camera subsatellite was not deployed due to lack of time.
NASA decided not to redeploy Spartan on this mission. On December 2, Spartan was unberthed with the RMS arm and used while attached to the arm for tests of an instrument called the Video Guidance Sensor which will be used during space station dockings. During an EVA on December 3, Doi and Scott carried out more tests of the Space Station crane. They also deployed the AERCam/Sprint 'football' remote-controlled camera for a free flight in the payload bay. Scott deployed the camera at 12:15 GMT and recovered it at 13:27 GMT. Airlock was repressurized at 14:09 GMT.
Cargo bay payloads:
In-Cabin Payloads: MGBX; CUE; Sprint/AERCAM; MSX; SIMPLEX
Developmental Test Objectives
Detailed Supplementary Objectives
Risk Mitigation Experiments
Payload And Vehicle Masses: Orbiter (Columbia) empty and 3 SSME's: 82,447 kg; Shuttle System at SRB Ignition: 2,050,242 kg; Orbiter Weight at Landing with Cargo: 102,697 kg; SPARTAN: 1,351 kg; EDFT Hardware: 395 kg; LHP: 125 kg; USMP-4: 2,133 kg; OARE: 112 kg; SOLSE: 196 kg; CUE: 135 kg. References: 4 , 7 , 276 .