STS-42 Fact Sheet

By Cliff Lethbridge

STS-42 — Discovery

45th Space Shuttle Mission

14th Flight of Discovery

Crew:

Ronald J. Grabe, Commander

Stephen S. Oswald, Pilot

William F. Readdy, Mission Specialist

Norman E. Thagard, Mission Specialist

David C. Hilmers, Mission Specialist

Roberta L. Bondar, Payload Specialist

Ulf D. Merbold, Payload Specialist

Orbiter Preparations:

Tow to Orbiter Processing Facility – September 27, 1991

Rollover to Vehicle Assembly Building – December 12, 1991

Rollout to Launch Pad 39A – December 19, 1991

Launch:

January 22, 1992 – 9:52:33 a.m. EST. Launch was delayed one hour to allow evaluation of KSC field mill (static electricity) indicators and to assess a transient power surge from an orbiter fuel cell.

Landing:

January 30, 1992 – 8:07:17 a.m. PST at Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, California. Rollout distance was 9,841 feet. Rollout time was 58 seconds. Mission duration was 8 days, 1 hour, 14 minutes, 44 seconds. Landing occurred during the 129th orbit.

Mission Summary:

The primary payload was the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 (IML-1) utilizing the pressurized Spacelab module. A host of experiments in life sciences and materials processing sciences were performed.

Secondary payloads included 12 GAS experiments, Gelation of Sols Applied Microgravity Research-1 (GOSAMR-1), IMAX Camera, Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP), Radiation Monitoring Experiment III (RME III) and two SSIP experiments.