STS-56

Flight Crew

CAMERON, Kenneth Donald, 43, USMC, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-37 (1991)

OSWALD, Stephen Scott, 41, USNR, pilot, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-42 (1992)

FOALE, Colin Michael, 36, civilian, mission specialist 1, payload commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: STS-45 (1992)

COCKRELL, Kenneth Dale, 42, USNR, mission specialist 2 OCHOA, Ellen Lauri, 34, civilian, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

The 6 April launch attempt for STS-56 was halted at T — 11 seconds by the orbiter’s computers. Incorrectly configured instrumentation on the LH high-point bleed valve in the main propulsion system indicated it was in an “off” position instead of the “on” position. The launch was set for 8 April, after a 48-hour scrub was implemented.

Once again the crew worked in two shifts throughout the mission. Foale and Cockrell operated the Red Shift, while Cameron, Oswald and Ochoa worked the Blue Shift. All seven ATLAS instruments had flown on ATLAS-1 in 1992 and were scheduled to fly a third time on ATLAS 3 in 1994. The ATLAS payload continued the collection of data regarding the relationship between energy from the Sun and the middle atmosphere of Earth, and how such a relationship affects the ozone layer. The other primary payload was deployed by the RMS on 11 April. The Shuttle Pointing Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-201 (SPARTAN-201) was a free-flying science platform whose configuration was designed to study the velocity and acceleration of solar wind particles and to make observations of the Sun’s

corona. The data collected during its independent flight was stored onboard tape recorders for play-back after its return to Earth. The RMS retrieved the SPARTAN – 201 on 13 April.

In addition to the primary payload, the flight included a suite of mid-deck payloads, focusing on biomedical and life science research, Earth location targeting equipment and optical calibration tests. In addition, SAREX was flown again, with the crew making numerous radio contracts with schools across the globe. They also reported brief contact with the Russian Mir space station, the first such confirmed contact between the Shuttle and space station using amateur equipment.

The landing of STS-56 was originally planned for 16 April, but was delayed due to bad weather conditions. The payload commander on this mission, Mike Foale, indicated that he did not wish to fly the third ATLAS mission having flown the first two, as he did not wish to become known as “Mr. Atlas” for the rest of his astronaut career. He suggested Ellen Ochoa as the next PC. This format of re-flying crew members on the same series of missions freed up training time and utilised actual flight experience to provide an on-going flow of CB contact with series payloads from one flight to the next.

Milestones

159th manned space flight

84th US manned space flight

54th Shuttle mission

16th flight of Discovery

4th Spacelab pallet-only mission

1st amateur radio contact between Shuttle and Mir

Cockrell celebrates his 43rd birthday in space (9 Apr)