Hayadan > Towards launch: concentration of ferry flights that were of special interest

Towards launch: concentration of ferry flights that were of special interest

Amit Oren, Israeli Astronomical Society

Direct link to this page: https://www.hayadan.org.il/shuttlehistory140705.html

Columbia Flight STS-107

The first Israeli astronaut was on this flight; The late Ilan Ramon. This shuttle took off on January 16th and was scheduled to land on the first of February, 2003. The shuttle Columbia and its crew were lost on re-entry into the atmosphere. About eighty-two seconds after liftoff, a piece of insulating foam broke off from the outer canister of the shuttle, striking the tip of the left wing and damaging a strip protecting the wing from heat. When entering the atmosphere, extremely high heat is generated. When it penetrated the face of the left wing, it began to melt from the face until it failed and was released from the spacecraft. When this happened, the spacecraft went out of control and disintegrated. The shuttle crew had to perform a series of experiments that were called FREESTAR. Among them, there was also the experiment carried out by Ilan Ramon, which was called MEIDEX.
(a collection of news from the science site until the moment of the disaster)

Endeavor flight STS-113

This shuttle took off on November 23rd and landed on December 2002th, 1. Takeoff and landing were smooth, despite alarming weather conditions on landing and the delay of takeoff due to various technical problems. The mission team had to transport the Integrated Truss Assembly PXNUMX to the International Space Station, a body that provides structural support for the space station's radiators.

Atlantis flight STS-104

This shuttle took off on July 12, and landed 12 days later, on July 24, 2001. The purpose of the mission team was to move and install the airlock on the International Space Station. Once activated, the airlock becomes the main entry and exit path for all spacewalks in and out of the International Space Station, according to NASA's spacesuits.

The failed launch: Challenger STS51-L

This shuttle launched on January 28, 1986 but never left the atmosphere.
The astronauts who were on the crew of this shuttle mission were killed approximately 73 seconds after the shuttle lifted off from the ground, at an altitude of more than 15 km.
A committee established to investigate the circumstances of the disaster (the Rogers Committee) came to the conclusion that the intense cold that prevailed the night before the launch was the reason for the explosion of the shuttle. The cold caused a lot of ice to condense on the fuel boosters of the shuttle and the shuttle itself, and in addition to the contraction of the regulator in the booster, which manifested itself in the inability to regulate the leakage of the combustion gases created by the burning of the fuel in the booster. During takeoff, a cloud of black smoke was created due to a gas leak from the accelerator. About 73 seconds after liftoff, as gas continued to leak, the rear of the external fuel tank exploded, sending the shuttle flying toward the Pacific Ocean. The two fuel tanks moved in the sky, making arcs of smoke, and exploded about half a minute later on command from the control center. The ferry crashed into the Pacific Ocean at a speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour, without any chance of surviving the impact.
This shuttle was supposed to perform a number of tasks; (1) release of the TDRS-2 communications satellite; (2) Release of a spacecraft that will observe Halley's comet with the help of two spectrometers in the ultraviolet range and two cameras.
In addition, teacher Christa McAuliffe was on the shuttle, in a project where she had to teach the first lesson to be conducted on board a space shuttle. In this class, McAuliffe was supposed to perform experiments in microgravity, which are not feasible in the laboratory under normal conditions.

Putting Chandra into orbit - Columbia STS-93

This shuttle took off on July 23, and landed four days later on July 27, 1999.
In this flight, the crew had to release from the shuttle the X-ray space telescope "Chandra" (named after the Indian-American Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhar) The telescope has three main parts: (1) the X-ray telescope, whose mirrors focus X-rays from celestial bodies; (2) the scientific instruments that record the X-rays for the production and analysis of images in the X-ray spectrum; (3) the spacecraft, which provides the essential environment for the telescope and instruments to operate.

Service missions for the "Hubble" space telescope Discovery flight STS-31

This shuttle took off on April 24, and returned five days later, on April 29, 1990. This shuttle flight has enormous scientific-astronomical value, because it was from this shuttle that the Hubble Space Telescope was released into space. The telescope is considered a cornerstone of modern science. The telescope, which photographed objects in near and deep space, brought us to an understanding of the universe on a level that was unknown to us before its launch. The shuttle also had an IMAX camera for unique XNUMXD documentation of the beam on such a shuttle mission.

Endeavor flight STS-61

This shuttle took off on the night of December 2, and returned eleven days later, on December 13, 1993. This mission is the first servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope, in which the Hubble Space Telescope had to replace one pair of gyroscopes, install or a wide field camera or the COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement). During the eleven days of their mission, the astronauts performed seven EVAs (extravehicular activity) to repair the telescope and bring it into normal operation.

Flight of Discovery STS-82

This shuttle took off on the night of February 11, and landed ten days later, on February 21, 1997. This mission is the second servicing mission for the "Hubble" space telescope, in which the mission team had to replace two old astronomical instruments with new ones. The replaced instruments were the "Goddard" spectrometer (Goddard) for high resolution and the pale object spectrograph. In addition to replacing the instruments, the astronauts upgraded other parts of the telescope's hardware.

Flight of Discovery STS-103
This shuttle took off on December 19 and landed on December 27, 1999. This was the third service flight for the Hubble Space Telescope, in which the mission team had to replace the six gyroscopes (an auxiliary device for maintaining stability) of the telescope that had failed. The gyroscopes must work in order for the telescope to remain aimed and accurate. In addition to the gyroscopes, the team had to replace the guidance sensor and the telescope's computer, which will be twenty times faster than its predecessor.

Columbia Flight STS-109

This shuttle took off on March 12 and landed on March 2002, 3. It was the fourth service flight for the Hubble Space Telescope, in which they installed an advanced sky survey camera, the SAXNUMX, a new Power Control System (PCU). In addition, the mission team had to put the space telescope into a higher orbit.