STS-74
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STS-74 is a Space Shuttle program mission.
| Space Shuttle program | |
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| Mission Insignia | |
Missing image Sts-74-patch.jpg | |
| Mission Statistics | |
| Mission: | STS-74 |
| Shuttle: | Atlantis |
| Launch Pad: | 39-A |
| Launch: | November 12, 1995 at 7:30:43.071 A.M. EST. |
| Landing: | KSC November 20, 1995 at 12:01:27 pm EST on Runway 33. |
| Duration: | 8 days, 4 hours, 31 minutes, 42 seconds |
| Orbit Altitude: | 213 nautical miles (394 km) |
| Orbit Inclination: | 51.6 degrees |
| Distance Traveled: | 3.4 million miles (5.5 million km) |
| Crew photo | |
| Missing image Sts-74-crew.jpg | |
| Previous Mission: STS-73 |
Next Mission: STS-72 |
| Contents |
Crew
- Kenneth D. Cameron (3), Commander
- James D. Halsell (2), Pilot
- Jerry L. Ross (5), Mission Specialist
- William S. McArthur Jr. (2), Mission Specialist
- Chris A. Hadfield (1), Mission Specialist - Canada
Mission Parameters
- Mass:
- Orbiter Liftoff: 112,358 kg
- Orbiter Landing: 92,701 kg
- Payload: 6,134 kg
- Perigee: 391 km
- Apogee: 396 km
- Inclination: 51.6°
- Period: 92.4 min
2nd Mir docking mission
- Docked: November 15, 1995, 06:27:38 UTC
- Undocked: November 18, 1995, 08:15:44 UTC
- Time Docked: 3 days, 1 h, 48 min, 6 s
Mission Highlights
The STS-74 mission is the second of seven planned Space Shuttle-Mir link-ups between 1995 and 1997, including rendezvous and docking and crew transfers, which will pave the way toward assembly of the international Space Station beginning in November 1997. Major objectives include docking with the Mir space station and delivery of a Russian docking module and 2 solar arrays.
This mission marks the first time astronauts from the European Space Agency, Canada, Russia and the U.S will be in space on the same complex at one time -- a prime example of nations that will be represented on the international Space Station.
Atlantis will carry the Russian-built Docking Module, which has multi-mission androgynous docking mechanisms at top and bottom. During the flight to Mir, the crew will use the Orbiter's Remote Manipulator System robot arm to hoist the Docking Module from the payload bay and berth its bottom androgynous unit atop Atlantis' Orbiter Docking System. Atlantis will then dock to Kristall using the Docking Module's top androgynous unit. After three days, Atlantis will undock from the Docking Module's bottom androgynous unit and leave the Docking Module permanently docked to Kristall, where it will provide clearance between the Shuttle and Mir's solar arrays during subsequent dockings.
Atlantis will deliver water, supplies, and equipment, including two new solar arrays -- one Russian and one jointly-developed -- to upgrade the Mir. It will return to Earth experiment samples, equipment for repair and analysis and products manufactured on the station.
Also flying aboard Atlantis is the GPP payload consisting of two experiments -- the GPP experiment and the Photogrammetric Appendage Structural Dynamics Experiment (PASDE). The payload is managed by Goddard Space Flight Center's Special Payloads Division.
The GPP will study the Earth's thermosphere, ionosphere and mesosphere energetics and dynamics using broadband spectroscopy. GPP also will study spacecraft interactions with the atmosphere by observing Shuttle and Mir glow, Shuttle engine firings, water dumps and fuel cell purges.
Three PASDE canisters, located throughout the cargo bay, will photogrammetrically record structural response data of the Mir solar arrays during the docked phase of the mission. These data will be analyzed on the ground to verify the use of photogrammetric techniques to characterize the structural dynamics of the array, thus demonstrating that this technology can result in cost and risk reduction for the international Space Station on-orbit structural verification.
Atlantis will also carry back to earth the University of California at Berkeley Trek Experiment which has been in orbit onboard Mir for the past four years.
Related articles
- Space science
- Space shuttle
- List of space shuttle missions
- List of human spaceflights chronologically
External links
- NASA mission summary (http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-74/mission-sts-74.html)
| Previous Mission: STS-73 |
Space Shuttle program | Next Mission: STS-72 |