STS-56

1993 American crewed spaceflight

STS-56
Spacecraft properties
Components of the ATLAS-2 laboratory in the payload bay of Discovery
Names	Space Transportation System-56

Mission type	Scientific
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1993-023A
SATCAT no.	22621
Mission duration	9 days, 6 hours, 8 minutes, 24 seconds
Distance travelled	6,202,407 km (3,853,997 mi)
Orbits completed	148


Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Discovery
Landing mass	93,683 kg (206,536 lb)
Payload mass	7,026 kg (15,490 lb)


Crew
Crew size	5
Members	Kenneth D. Cameron Stephen S. Oswald Michael Foale Kenneth Cockrell Ellen Ochoa


Start of mission
Launch date	April 8, 1993, 05:29:00 UTC
Rocket	Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch site	Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B
Contractor	Rockwell International


End of mission
Landing date	April 17, 1993, 11:37:19 UTC
Landing site	Kennedy Space Center, SLF Runway 33


Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Periapsis altitude	291 km (181 mi)
Apoapsis altitude	299 km (186 mi)
Inclination	57.00°
Period	90.40 minutes

Instruments
Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR) Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) Commercial Materials dispersion apparatus Instrumentation technology associates Experiment (CMIX) Cosmic Ray Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM) Get Away Special (GAS) Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting and Environmental System (HERCULES) Millimeter Wave Atmospheric Sounder (MAS) Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE) Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME III) Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX II) Solar Spectroscopy Instrument (SOLSPEC) Solar Ultraviolet Experiment (SUVE) Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV/A) Solar Constant (SOLCON) Space Tissue Loss (STL-1) Solar Ultraviolet Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM)
STS-56 mission patch Standing: Cockrell, Foale, Ochoa Seated: Oswald, Cameron Space Shuttle program ← STS-54 (53) STS-55 (55) →

STS-56 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission to perform special experiments. The mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 8, 1993.

Crew


Position	Astronaut
Commander	Kenneth D. Cameron Second spaceflight
Pilot	Stephen S. Oswald Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1	Michael Foale Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2	Kenneth Cockrell First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3	Ellen Ochoa First spaceflight

Mission highlights

The primary payload of the flight was the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-2 (ATLAS-2), designed to collect data on the relationship between the Sun's energy output and Earth's middle atmosphere and how these factors affect the ozone layer. It included six instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet in the cargo bay, with the seventh mounted on the wall of the bay in two Get Away Special (GAS) canisters. Atmospheric instruments included the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) experiment, the Millimeter Wave Atmospheric Sounder (MAS), and the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV/A) spectrometer (on the cargo bay wall). Solar science instruments were the solar spectrometry instrument SOLSPEC,^[1] the Solar Ultraviolet Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM), and the Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR) and Solar Constant (SOLCON) experiments.^[2]

ATLAS-2 is one element of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program. All seven ATLAS-2 instruments first flew on ATLAS-1 during STS-45, and flew a third time in late 1994 on STS-66.^[2]

On April 11, 1993, the crew used the remote manipulator arm (Canadarm) to deploy the Shuttle Point Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-201 (SPARTAN-201), a free-flying science instrument platform designed to study velocity and acceleration of the solar wind and observe the Sun's corona. Collected data was stored on tape for playback after return to Earth. SPARTAN-201 was retrieved on April 13, 1993.^[2]

The crew also made numerous radio contacts to schools around the world using the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX II), including brief radio contact with the Russian Mir space station, the first such contact between Space Shuttle and Mir using amateur radio equipment. It was arguably the first time that the astronauts received amateur television video from the ham radio club station (W5RRR) at JSC.^[2]

Other cargo bay payloads were the Solar Ultraviolet Experiment (SUVE), sponsored by Colorado Space Grant Consortium and located in a GetAway Special canister on the cargo bay wall.^[2]

The middeck payloads were the Commercial Materials Dispersion Apparatus Instrumentation Technology Associates Experiment (CMIX), the Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE), Space Tissue Loss (STL-1) experiment, the Cosmic Ray Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM) experiment. the Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting and Environmental System (HERCULES), Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME III), and an Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) calibration test.^[2]

Gallery

Launch of STS-56
SPARTAN-201
Payload bay view with ATLAS pallet

References

^ "Background". SOLSPEC. Institut Pierre Simon Laplace. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Ryba, Jeanne. "STS-56". NASA. Retrieved March 11, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links

NASA mission summary Archived September 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
STS-56 Video Highlights Archived July 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103)

Completed flights

Status

Retired

On display

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington, D.C.

Destiny in Space (1994 documentary)

U.S. Space Shuttle missions

Completed
(crews)

1970s	1977 Approach and Landing Tests
1980s	1981 STS-1 STS-2 1982 STS-3 STS-4 STS-5 1983 STS-6 STS-7 STS-8 STS-9 1984 STS-41-B STS-41-C STS-41-D STS-41-G STS-51-A 1985 STS-51-C STS-51-D STS-51-B STS-51-G STS-51-F STS-51-I STS-51-J STS-61-A STS-61-B 1986 STS-61-C STS-51-L† 1988 STS-26 STS-27 1989 STS-29 STS-30 STS-28 STS-34 STS-33
1990s	1990 STS-32 STS-36 STS-31 STS-41 STS-38 STS-35 1991 STS-37 STS-39 STS-40 STS-43 STS-48 STS-44 1992 STS-42 STS-45 STS-49 STS-50 STS-46 STS-47 STS-52 STS-53 1993 STS-54 STS-56 STS-55 STS-57 STS-51 STS-58 STS-61 1994 STS-60 STS-62 STS-59 STS-65 STS-64 STS-68 STS-66 1995 STS-63 STS-67 STS-71 STS-70 STS-69 STS-73 STS-74 1996 STS-72 STS-75 STS-76 STS-77 STS-78 STS-79 STS-80 1997 STS-81 STS-82 STS-83 STS-84 STS-94 STS-85 STS-86 STS-87 1998 STS-89 STS-90 STS-91 STS-95 STS-88 1999 STS-96 STS-93 STS-103
2000s	2000 STS-99 STS-101 STS-106 STS-92 STS-97 2001 STS-98 STS-102 STS-100 STS-104 STS-105 STS-108 2002 STS-109 STS-110 STS-111 STS-112 STS-113 2003 STS-107† 2005 STS-114 2006 STS-121 STS-115 STS-116 2007 STS-117 STS-118 STS-120 2008 STS-122 STS-123 STS-124 STS-126 2009 STS-119 STS-125 STS-127 STS-128 STS-129
2010s	2010 STS-130 STS-131 STS-132 2011 STS-133 STS-134 STS-135

Cancelled

Orbiters

^† indicates failure missions.

v t e ← 1992 Orbital launches in 1993 1994 →
January	Kosmos 2230 Molniya 1-85 STS-54 (TDRS-6) Kosmos 2231 Soyuz TM-16 Kosmos 2232
February	USA-88 Kosmos 2233 SCD-1, Orbcomm CDS-1 Kosmos 2234, Kosmos 2235, Kosmos 2236 Asuka Progress M-16
March	Gran' No.42L EKA-1 UFO F-1 Kosmos 2237 USA-90, SEDS-1 Kosmos 2238 Progress M-17
April	Kosmos 2239 Kosmos 2240 Kosmos 2241 STS-56 (SPARTAN 201) Kosmos 2242 Molniya-3 No.57 ALEXIS, Orbcomm CDS-2 STS-55 Kosmos 2243 Kosmos 2244
May	Kosmos 2245, Kosmos 2246, Kosmos 2247, Kosmos 2248, Kosmos 2249, Kosmos 2250 Astra 1C, Arsene USA-91 Resurs-F2 No.9 Progress M-18 Molniya-1T No.81 Gorizont No.39L
June	Kosmos 2251 STS-57 Kosmos 2252, Kosmos 2253, Kosmos 2254, Kosmos 2255, Kosmos 2256, Kosmos 2257 Galaxy 4 Resurs-F1 No.57 Radcal USA-92, PMG
July	Soyuz TM-17 Kosmos 2258 Kosmos 2259 USA-93 Kosmos 2260 Hispasat 1B, INSAT-2B
August	Unnamed, Unnamed, Unnamed, SLDCOM-3 Molniya-3 No.58 NOAA-13 Kosmos 2261 Progress M-19 Resurs-F1 No.56 USA-94 Meteor-2 No.24, Temisat
September	USA-95 Kosmos 2262 STS-51 (ACTS, ORFEUS-SPAS) Kosmos 2263 Kosmos 2264 IRS-P1 SPOT-3, Stella, KITSAT-2, Itamsat, Eyesat-1, PoSAT-1, Healthsat-2 Gran' 41L
October	Landsat 6 FSW-15 Progress M-20 STS-58 Intelsat 701 Kosmos 2265 USA-96 Gorizont No.40L
November	Kosmos 2266 Kosmos 2267 Gorizont No.41L Solidaridad 2, Meteosat 6 USA-97
December	STS-61 USA-98 Telstar 401 DirecTV-1, Thaicom 1 Molniya 1-87
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). CubeSats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).