STS-48

Deployed UARS Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite; conducted materials and biological research.

NASA Official Mission Narrative

Mission Name: STS-48 (43)
DISCOVERY (13)
Pad 39-A (42)
43rd Shuttle mission
13th Flight OV-103
5th Night landing

Crew:
John O. Creighton (3), Commander
Kenneth S. Reightler, Jr. (1), Pilot
James F. Buchli (4), Mission Specialist 1
Charles D. Gernar (2), Mission Specialist 2
Mark N. Brown (2), Mission Specialist 3

Milestones:
OPF - May 6, 1991
VAB - July 25, 1991
PAD - Aug. 12, 1991

Payload:
UARS,AMOS(1),APM,MODE,SAM,CREAM,PARE,PGC-II-2,IPMP
Mission Objectives:

Launch:
September 12, 1991, 7:11:04 p.m. EDT. Launch delayed 14 minutes by a faulty communication link between KSC and Mission Control in Houston. Launch Weight: 240,062 lbs.
Orbit:
Altitude: 313nm
Inclination: 57.0 degrees
Orbits: 81
Duration: 5 days, 8 hours, 27 minutes, 38 seconds.
Distance: 2,193,670 miles

Hardware:
SRB: BI-046
SRM: 360L018
ET : 42/LWT-35
MLP : 3
SSME-1: SN-2019
SSME-2: SN-2031
SSME-3: SN-2107

Landing:
September 18,1991, 12:38:42 a.m. PDT, Runway 22, Edwards AFB, Calif. Rollout distance: 9,513 feet. Rollout time: 50 seconds. Landed scheduled for KSC, but diverted to Edwards due to bad weather. Orbiter returned to KSC Sept. 26,1991. Landing Weight: 192,780 lbs.

Mission Highlights:
Primary payload, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), deployed on the third day of the mission. During its planned 18-month mission, the l4,500-pound observatory will make the most extensive study ever conducted of the Earth's troposphere, the upper level of the planet's envelope of life- sustaining gases which also include the protective ozone layer. UARS has ten sensing and measuring devices: Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES); Improved Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (ISAMS); Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS); Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE); High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI); Wind Imaging Interferometer (WlNDII); Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM); Solar/Stellar Irra- diance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE); Particle Environ- ment Monitor (PEM) and Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor (ACRIM II).
Secondary payloads were: Ascent Particle Monitor (APM); Middeck 0-Gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE); Shuttle Activation Monitor (SAM); Cosmic Ray Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM); Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE); Protein Crystal Growth II-2 (PCG II-2); Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP); and the Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.