Orbiter -- Columbia (OV-102) (21st flight)
Launch Site -- KSC, Pad 39B
Launch Target Date -- November*
Liftoff Time -- Afternoon*
Launch Window -- Two hours, 30 minutes
Mission Duration -- 16 days
Orbital Altitude and Inclination -- 219 statute miles (352 kilometers)/28.45 degrees to the equator
Landing Site -- Kennedy Space Center
A satellite carrying science instruments to gather astronomical data for improving our understanding of the universe, and a free-flying experiment platform for growing and processing thin films for next-generation advanced electronics, are the primary payloads of the STS-80 Space Shuttle mission.
It will mark the first time that two payloads will be deployed, free-flown simultaneously, and later retrieved during the same Shuttle flight.
The astrophysics payload contains three spectrographs which flew on the first ORFEUS-SPAS mission in 1993. Both flights, part of the ASTRO-SPAS program that uses the German-built retrievable satellite, are a cooperative effort of NASA and the German Space Agency (DARA).
Mission Specialists Tamara E. Jernigan and Thomas D. Jones will perform two spacewalks to continue the flight test and evaluation of hardware and procedures for future extravehicular activities, especially in the assembly and maintenance of the International Space Station.
Note: Shuttle mission dates and other specifics 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.
Two-time space flyer Kenneth D. Cockrell will command the experienced five- member crew. A captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve, Cockrell previously was an aerospace engineer and research pilot for Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX. The former longtime naval aviator became an astronaut in 1991. This will be his first flight as commander.
Pilot Kent V. Rominger (Cmdr., USN) will make his second space flight on STS- 80. Also a former naval aviator, Rominger served in the Desert Storm operation in the Arabian Gulf. He was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1992.
Mission Specialist Tamara E. Jernigan joined NASA in 1981 as a research scientist at Ames Research Center in California. She has a doctorate in space physics and astronomy. She became an astronaut in 1986 and flew three times, logging a total of more than 854 hours in space.
Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones will fly for the third time on STS-80. A former pilot and captain in the U.S. Air Force, he was a senior scientist and performed advanced program planning for NASA’s Solar System Exploration Division. He has a doctorate in planetary science. Jones became an astronaut in 1991.
On STS-80, Mission Specialist Story Musgrave will equal American astronaut John Young’s record of six space flights. At 61, he will be oldest human to fly in space. Musgrave has logged more than 858 hours in space on his previous five Space Shuttle missions. He has a doctorate in medicine and formerly worked as a surgeon, professor and researcher in the medical field. The former U.S. Marine is an accomplished pilot and parachutist. He was selected by NASA as a scientist-astronaut in 1967 and worked on the Skylab Program, among others, before becoming a Shuttle astronaut.
NASA-developed impact sensor technology contributed to the creation of Impax which was used by the U.S. Olympic Training Center to measure force-pounds of a karate kick or a boxer’s punch.