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STS-59 was a Space Shuttle program mission that took place in 1994.
| Space Shuttle program | |
|---|---|
| Mission Insignia | |
| Mission Statistics | |
| Mission: | STS-59 |
| Shuttle: | Endeavour |
| Launch Pad: | LC-39A |
| Launch: | April 9, 1994: 11:05 UTC |
| Landing: | April 20, 1995: 16:54 UTC |
| Duration: | 11 days 5 h 50 min 23 s |
| Orbit Altitude: | 204 km |
| Orbit Inclination: | 56.9° |
| Distance Traveled: | unknown |
| Crew photo | |
| Previous Mission: STS-62 |
Next Mission: STS-65 |
Endeavour began its sixth mission on the morning of April 9, 1994 with an on-time launch at 7:05 am eastern time. Soon after, the six astronauts began activating the sensitive radar equipment in the payload bay that would be operated around the clock during the next ten days.
By Saturday, April 9, 1994, 8 pm EDT, The Space Radar Laboratory-1 experiments of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth were all activated and began their study of the Earth's ecosystem.
STS-59 ground controllers finished activating Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) and began processing its first images of the Earth, while engineers working with the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR) worked their way through some initial activation problems.
Meanwhile, the Space Tissue Loss investigations on the middeck, and the Getaway Special experiments in the cargo bay.
As of Sunday morning, April 10, 1994, the radar laboratory had taken data readings on more than 40 targets including Howland, Maine; Macquarie Island; the Black Sea; Matera, Italy; and the Strait of Gibraltar. Scientists also have gathered information on three of the 19 "supersites." The supersites are the highest priority targets and the focal points for many of the scientific observations. Sunday's supersite observations have included global carbon and hydrologic cycles in Duke Forest, North Carolina; hydrologic cycles around Otzal, Austria; and geological data on Lake Chad in the Sahara. Observation sites for Sunday afternoon included Gippsland, Australia; Sable Island; Toronto, Canada; Bermuda; Bighorn Basin, Wyoming; Chung Li, China; and Mammoth Mountain, California. The supersite opportunities are Raco, Michigan, and the Gulf Stream.
By Sunday, April 10, 1994, 8 p.m. EDT (MCC STS-59 Status Report #5), Space Radar Laboratory-1 had taken data readings over targets including Nelson House, Manitoba, and Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada; the Azores Islands; Gippsland and Alice Springs, Australia; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; the Bermuda Islands, Cuiaba and Pantanal, Brazil; Wyoming's Big Horn Basin; Chung Li, China; Sarobetsu, Japan; Mammoth Mountain, California, Cerro Aconcagua, Argentina; Cerro Laukaru, Chile, and the Baikal Forest and Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia.
Sunday evening's supersite observations by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR- C) and the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR) -- those taken over 19 areas that have been deemed especially significant by the scientists planning the observations -- focused on the interaction of plants and animals in the ecology of the forests of Raco, Michigan; hydrologic cycles around Bebedouro, Brazil; tectonic plate activity around the Galapagos Islands in the South Pacific; and the transfer of heat through wave energy in the Southern Ocean.
The Measurement of Atmospheric Pollution from Satellite instrument also continued to take readings of the concentration and distribution of carbon monoxide throughout the troposphere. Crew members reported good Earth observation photography opportunties over the Northeast Pacific Ocean and the frozen lakes of the Raco supersite area, as well as fires in the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico.
On flight day two, the Red Team crew of Commander Sidney M. Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin P. Chilton and Payload Commander Linda M. Godwin began its sleep shift about 5 p.m. CDT, to awaken at 2 a.m. The Blue Team crew members, Jay Apt, Michael R. Clifford and Thomas D. Jones, awakened about 4 p.m. to begin their third flight day on orbit, and would go to bed about 5 a.m.
As of Monday, April 11, 1994, 6:30 a.m. CDT (from MCC STS-59 Status Report #6) three real-time radar images were downlinked from Endeavour overnight. A view of the Sahara Desert in Algeria, one of the geology sites, will help scientists to map surface and subsurface structures. The Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar can penetrate the Sahara's dry sand cover to reveal centuries-old drainage patterns. The desert salt flat regions showed up on the image as bright ridges.
Also, the two Space science
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