The
Background of the
STS-90
Mission
By:
Kevin R. Jones
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On April 16, 1998 at 2:19 PM, Pekinite Scott Altman will blast into space
beginning his mission aboard the Columbia
space shuttle. While aboard the Columbia, the members of the STS-90
mission will perform tests on the mechanisms in the body responsible
for neurological and behavioral changes while in space. The mission
will involve over five countries, over six space agencies, and about
seven research agencies in the United States.
-
The
launch of the Columbia will occur on April 16, 1998, at around two
o' clock in Florida. The launch window is two hours and thirty minutes
either early or late. On Monday, March 2, the Neurolab transfer
tunnel was mechanically and electrically
-
mated and the tunnel
test was completed that Friday. As of March the tenth, all of the
Columbia's close-out operations and leak checks were complete. The
main heat shields are being installed, and a landing gear test was
scheduled for March 10, 1998. In the vehicle assembly building the external
tank was successfully connected to the solid rocket boosters on
the fifth day of March.
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On
February 26, 1998 work to install the space shuttle's main engines
were complete. The whole STS-90 crew took place in a crew equipment
and interface test. Then an inspection took place to find any sharp
edges in the orbiters crew module and Neurolab. So far all inspection
checks on the space shuttle Columbia have been successful. If a
couple more inspections are successful the shuttle will be okayed
for launch.
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The
STS-90 Neurolab mission will combine six space agencies and seven
United States research agencies. Teams of investigators from nine
countries will undergo 31 studies in the microgravity environment of space.
The other agencies involved in the mission include six institutes
of the National Institutes of health, the National Science Foundation,
and the Office of Naval Research. Other agencies involved are the
space agencies from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the European
Space Agency. The mission will specifically focus on the studies
of the adaptation syndrome, the adaptation of the central nervous system
and the pathways which control the ability to sense location in
the absence of gravity, and the affect of microgravity on a developing
nervous system. In general terms, the STS-90 crew will investigate how
the body performs in zero gravity.
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While
the Columbia and the seven crew members inside of
it are in orbit they will be over one-hundred and fifty nautical
miles above the Earth's surface. The shuttle will be at a thirty-nine
degree incline. The duration of the orbit will be fifteen days,
twenty one hours, fifty minutes, and fifty seconds, estimated. The
landing of the Columbia will be at Kennedy Space Center on May 3,
1998 at 11:07 AM eastern time.
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Hopefully,
Scott Altman will be safe and sound on the Columbia during the STS-90
mission.
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Scott
Altman, STS-90 Pilot
NASA's
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