STS-42 Totally Explained

Everything about Sts-42 totally explained

STS-42 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission with the Spacelab module. Liftoff which was originally scheduled for 8:45 EST(13:45 UTC) January 22, 1992, but the launch was delayed due to weather constraints. Discovery successfully lifted off an hour later at 9:52 EST (14:52 UTC).

Orbiter landing with payload: 98,890 kg

Payload: 13,066 kg

Perigee: 291 km

Apogee: 307 km

Inclination: 57.0°

Period: 90.5 min

Mission highlights

Launch: January 22, 1992, 9:52:33 a.m. EST. Launch delayed one hour due to weather constraints. Launch Weight: 243,396 lb (110.403 Mg).
Carried into orbit the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 (IML-1), a pressurized manned Spacelab module, to explore in depth the complex effects of weightlessness on living organisms and materials processing. The international crew, divided into Red and Blue teams, conducted experiments on the human nervous system's adaptation to low gravity and the effects of microgravity on other life forms such as shrimp eggs, lentil seedlings, fruit fly eggs and bacteria. Low gravity materials processing experiments included crystal growth from a variety of substances such as enzymes, mercury iodine and a virus. Other payloads included 10 Get Away Special (GAS) canisters, a number of middeck payloads and two Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments. Middeck payloads included Gelation of SOLS: Applied microgravity research (GOSAMR), Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP) and the Radiation Monitoring Experiment (RME-III).
Landing: January 30, 1992, 8:07:17 a.m. PST, Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, CA., Rollout distance: 9,811 feet. Mission extended one day for continued scientific experimentation. Orbiter returned to KSC on February 16, 1992. Landing Weight: 218,016 lb (98.890 Mg).

Trivia

During the STS-42 mission, Super Bowl XXVI was played in Minneapolis, MN between the Washington Redskins and the Buffalo Bills. The pre-game show included a live downlink from Discovery, where three of the crew demonstrated that a traditional pre-game coin toss wouldn't work in space. Their solution was to do a 'human coin toss'. Crew member Roberta Bondar was used as the 'coin' as she curled into a ball and was slowly spun and pushed toward the ceiling. Whatever end of her body touched the ceiling first would be 'heads' or 'tails'. In this case, her rear touched the ceiling first which was considered to be a call of 'tails'.

With the launch of STS-42, Canada sent its first woman astronaut, Roberta Bondar, into space.

An IMAX camera was carried on the mission, and film from mission eventually appeared in the IMAX movie Destiny in Space.

The mission was the seventh Spacelab mission.

The landing was the 35th landing at Edwards Air Force Base

At its completion, it was the eighth longest Space Shuttle mission.

STS-42 marked the seventh time a Space Shuttle mission was extended.

Mission insignia

The four stars in the lower blue field and two stars in the upper blue field of the insignia symbolize the flight's numerical designation in the Space Transportation System's mission sequence. The single gold star above the horizon on the right is in honor of astronaut astronaut Manley "Sonny" Carter, who was killed in the crash of Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 in Brunswick, Georgia while on a commercial airplane traveling for NASA. Carter was originally assigned as a mission specialist on STS-42 at the time of his death.

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