|
CREW:
Kevin
P. Chilton, Commander; Richard A. Searfoss, Pilot; Linda M. Godwin, Mission
Specialist; Michael R. Clifford, Mission Specialist;
Ronald M. Sega, Mission Specialist; Shannon W. Lucid
(up), Mission Specialist
LAUNCH
INFO:
Date: March
22, 1996
Time: 3:13 a.m. EST
Site: Kennedy Space Center, FL
SHUTTLE
FLIGHT:
Orbiter: Atlantis
(OV-104)
Orbit Altitude: 160 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: 51.6°
Mission Duration: 9 Days, 5 hours,
16 minutes
MIR
DOCKING:
Docking: 3rd Mir Docking
Dock Date: March 23, 1996
Dock Time: 8:34 p.m. CST
Undock Date: March 28, 1996
Undock Time: 7:08 p.m. CST
LANDING
INFO:
Date: Mar. 31, 1996
Time: 8:28 a.m. EST
Site: Edwards Air Force Base, CA
PAYLOAD(S):
SPACEHAB-SM Single
Module (FU2)
[View
Experiment Details]
[Download
Mission Patch]
During the 9-day STS-76
mission, Atlantis docked to Mir for five days, during which thousands
of pounds of water and logistical equipment were transferred to Mir. When
Atlantis undocked, US Mission Specialist Shannon Lucid remained onboard
to conduct a variety of boiomedical and materials science experiments.
STS-76 began a series of missions on which SPACEHAB Modules (Single and
Double) were used to carry vital supplies and science experiments up to
and back from Mir.
This SPACEHAB mission featured several firsts. SPACEHAB used its own transporter
to carry the SPACEHAB Module to the Kennedy Space Center Space Station
Processing Facility on February 19,1996, providing a new feature to the
Company's full range of services.
The SPACEHAB Module was installed into the Orbiter's payload bay on the
launch pad, rather than in the Orbiter Processing Facility, on February
29,1996, only three weeks prior to launch.
The SPACEHAB Module was attached to the aft section of the Orbiter payload
bay, near the center of gravity, and connected with a pressurized tunnel
to the aft side of the Orbiter Docking System. SPACEHAB built a new tunnel
section to interface between the Module and the longer tunnel used on
Mir docking missions.
The SPACEHAB Module was unpowered during the launch phase and powered-up
approximately three hours after launch.
Two double racks were
housed in the SPACEHAB Module for science experiments and logistics, demostrating
the Module's flexibility in accommodating a range of space hardware.
A soft stowage system
was used extensively to carry logistics items. The system allowed
up to 20% more cargo to be carried than if standard lockers were used.
This innovation, coupled with the Module's location further aft in
the payload bay than on previous missions, allowed more than 4,400
pounds of payload to be loaded into the Module. On previous missions,
up to 3,000 pounds of payload were carried.
|
