CREW:
John H. Casper, Commander; Curtis L. Brown Jr., Pilot; Daniel W. Bursch, Mission Specialist; Mario Runco, Jr., Mission Specialist; Marc Garneau, Mission Specialist (CSA); Andrew S. W. Thomas, Mission Specialist

LAUNCH INFO:
Date: May 19, 1996
Time: 6:30 a.m. EDT
Site: Kennedy Space Center, FL

SHUTTLE FLIGHT:
Orbiter: Endeavour (OV-105)
Orbit Altitude: 153 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: 39°
Mission Duration: 10 Days, 0 hours, 40 minutes

LANDING INFO:
Date: May 29, 1996
Time: 7:09 a.m. EDT
Site: Kennedy Space Center, FL

PAYLOAD(S):
SPACEHAB-SM Single Module (FU1)
Spartan 207
Commercial Float Zone Facility (CFZF)
Space Experiment Facility (SEF)
10 other commercial space product development payloads

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The STS-77 crew was commanded by John Casper, making his fourth Shuttle flight. The pilot for the mission, Curt Brown, made his third flight. There were four mission specialists assigned to the flight. Andrew Thomas, serving as Mission Specialist-1, made his first flight. Mission Specialist-2 was Dan Bursch on his third flight. Mario Runco served as Mission Specialist-3, also on his third flight. Mission Specialist-4 was Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau, who flew in space for the second time.

Over 90 percent of the payloads aboard Endeavour were sponsored by NASA's Office of Space Access and Technology, Washington, DC, through its Commercial Space Centers and their industrial affiliates. Primary payloads included experiments flying aboard the SPACEHAB Module.

In 1990 NASA contracted SPACEHAB for the lease of their SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratories for a series of flights. STS-77 marked the fourth flight of the SPACEHAB under this contract.

The SPACEHAB Single Module carried nearly 3,000 pounds of experiments and support equipment for 12 commercial space product development payloads in the areas of biotechnology, electronic materials, polymers and agriculture, as well as several experiments for other NASA payload organizations. One of these, the Commercial Float Zone Facility (CFZF), was developed through international collaboration among the U.S., Canada and Germany partners. It heated various samples of electronic and semiconductor material through the float zone technique.

Another facility on the SPACEHAB Module was the Space Experiment Facility (SEF), which grew crystals by vapor diffusion. This experiment yielded large, defect-free crystals that are important for electronic applications and remote sensing.