Mission and Payloads
The seven-member international STS-75 crew will conduct scientific investigations with both the Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1R) andUnited States Microgravity Payload-3 (USMP-3) primary payloads during the second Space Shuttle mission of the year.

The 5-foot (1.6 meter)-in-diameter TSS-1R satellite will be deployed from its pallet in Columbia’s payload bay to a distance of 12.4 miles (20.7 kilometers) above the orbiter as an attached, electrically-conductive tether the diameter of wooden matchstick unwinds from a motorized reel. The Objectives of the TSS program are to demonstrate the ability to deploy and control satellites on long tethers in space and to conduct space plasma experiments that include the generation of electrical power.

The TSS-1 first flew on STS-46 in 1992, but a mechanical problem allowed the satellite to be deployed only to height of 840 feet.

The USMP-3 is a continuation of NASA’s microgravity research program to provide advances in the fields of materials science and condensed matter physics. Four major USMP-3 experiment packages will be mounted on two support carriers located in Columbia’s payload bay, while three combustion experiments will be conducted by the crew in a Glovebox facility located in the orbiter’s middeck area. Investigations conducted with one payload bay experiment could lead to better methods to produce semiconductor materials, while another will study the effect of the reduced gravity found in orbit on the solidification of metals, alloys and electronic materials.

*Note: Shuttle Mission dates are subject to change. Updates may be obtained by calling the following telephone numbers: Kennedy Space Center, Florida -- (407) 867-2314 or 867-4636; and NASA Headquarters, Washington, D. C. -- (202) 358-4184.

The Crew
The seven-member international STS-75 crew includes two European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts and one from the Italian Space Agency (ASI), as well as four veterans of STS-46.

Mission Commander Andrew M. Allen (Major, USMC) is on his third space flight, having served as pilot of both STS-62 and STS-46. He has more than 4,000 hours of flight time in over 30 types of aircraft.

Pilot Scott J. "Doc" Horowitz (Ph.D.) (Major,USAF) is on his first Shuttle mission. He holds a doctorate degree in aerospace engineering and was selected as one of the Outstanding Young Men in America in 1985.

Payload Commander Franklin R. Chang-Diaz (Ph.D.) has flown on STS-60, STS-46, STS-34,and STS 61-C. He holds a doctorate in applied plasma physics and is director of the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at the University of Houston.

Mission Specialist Jeffrey A. Hoffman (Ph.D.) has served in this capacity on STS-61, STS-46, STS-35 and STS 51-D. He holds a doctorate degree in astrophysics and has been working on the Tethered Satellite project since 1987.

Mission Specialist Claude Nicollier (ESA) has flown on both STS-61 and STS-46. A captain in the Swiss Air Force, he holds a master’s degree in astrophysics and is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.

Mission Specialist Maurizio Cheli (ESA) is a lieutenant colonel in the Italian Air Force. He has over 2,200 flying hours in more than 45 types of aircraft. He became an ESA astronaut in 1992.

Payload Specialist Umberto Guidoni (ASI) is a researcher of the Space Physics Institute and is the project scientist responsible for the integration of the Electrodynamic Tether Effects (RETE) experiment on the TSS-1R.

Amazing Shuttle Fact
After the two solid rocker boosters burn out and separate at 28.4 miles high 2 minutes after liftoff, their tremendous velocity carries them nearly 17 miles higher (45 miles). Their flight ends 7 minutes after liftoff in the Atlantic Ocean awaiting retrieval.