STS-45

Mission: ATLAS-1

Space Shuttle: Atlantis
Launch Pad: 39A

Launch Weight: 233,650 pounds

Launched: March 24, 1992, 8:13 a.m. EST

Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Landing: April 2, 1992, 6:23 a.m. EST

Landing Weight: 205,042 pounds

Runway: 33

Rollout Distance: 9,227 feet

Rollout Time: 60 seconds

Revolution: 143

Mission Duration: 8 days, 22 hours, 9 minutes 28 seconds

Orbit Altitude: 160 nautical miles

Orbit Inclination: 57 degrees

Miles Traveled: 3.2 million

Launch Highlights

The launch was originally scheduled for March 23, but was delayed one day because of higher than allowable concentrations of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the orbiter's aft compartment during tanking operations. During troubleshooting, the leaks could not be reproduced, leading engineers to believe that they were the result of plumbing in the main propulsion system not thermally conditioned to the super cold propellants. Launch was rescheduled for March 24.

Mission Highlights

The mission carried the first Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-1) on Spacelab pallets mounted in the orbiter's cargo bay.

The non-deployable payload, equipped with 12 instruments from the U.S., France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Japan, conducted studies in atmospheric chemistry, solar radiation, space plasma physics and ultraviolet astronomy.

ATLAS-1 instruments were: Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS); Grille Spectrometer; Millimeter Wave Atmospheric Sounder (MAS); Imaging Spectrometric Observatory (ISO); Atmospheric Lyman-Alpha Emissions (ALAE); Atmospheric Emissions Photometric Imager (AEPI); Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators (SEPAC); Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR); Measurement of Solar Constant (SOLCON); Solar Spectrum (SOLSPEC); Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM); and Far Ultraviolet Space Telescope (FAUST).

Other payloads included Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment, one get-away Special (GAS) experiment and six mid-deck experiments.

STS-45 Space Mission Insignia