|STS-89 | Crew | Payload | Mission |
STS-89
Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launched:
January 22, 1998, 9:48 p.m. EST
Kennedy Space Center, Pad 39-A
Orbit:
160 nautical milesInclination:
51.6 degreesLanded:
January 31, 1998, 5:36 p.m. EST
Kennedy Space CenterMission:
8 days, 19 hours, 48 minutes
STS-89
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|STS-89 | Crew | Payload | Mission |
STS-89 Crew
Commander Terrence W. Wilcutt
Third Shuttle flightPilot Joe F. Edwards, Jr.
First Shuttle flightMission Specialist Bonnie J. Dunbar, Ph.D.
Fifth Shuttle flightMission Specialist Michael P. Anderson
First Shuttle flightMission Specialist James F. Reilly, Ph.D.
First Shuttle flightCosmonaut Salizhan S. Sharipov
Russian Space Agency
First Shuttle flightMission Specialist Andrew S.W. Thomas, Ph.D.
Second Shuttle flight; remaining on MirMission Specialist David A. Wolf, M.D.
Third Shuttle flight; returning from Mir
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|STS-89 | Crew | Payload | Mission |
Payload
Space Habitation (Double) Module
Shuttle Ionospheric Modification with Pulsed Local Exhaust
Closed Equilibrated Biological Aquatic System
TeleMedicine Instrumentation Pack
Global Positioning System Development Test Objective
Mechanics of Granular Materials Experiment
Space Acceleration Measurement System
Astroculture Biological Experiments
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|STS-89 | Crew | Payload | Mission |
Mission: January 22 -31, 1998
STS-89 initiated the last NASA Mir residency by delivering Andy Thomas and bringing David Wolf home. The crew, which included cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov helped strengthen NASAs partnership with Russia in preparation for the International Space Station (ISS).
The Space Shuttle Endeavour became the first Orbiter after Atlantis to dock with Mir. This was Endeavours first flight since STS-77 in May 1996, after which it went to Palmdale, California, for new main engines and an external airlock for future ISS duties. A few unexpected delays occurred in the week before launch. The Russians wanted to wait until some specific work would be finished onboard Mir, and NASA needed to repair some of the Orbiters heat-shielding tiles.
Endeavour roared skyward in another spectacular nighttime liftoff to Mir after a prospect of stormy weather. One of the few problems associated with the launch was that the solid rocket boosters parachuted into rough seas.
They could not be towed back to Cape Canaveral for three days, and two of the four parachutes were lost because of the delayed recovery. Repairing booster cracks and other damage would result in a cost of at least $7 million. However, high in space, the STS-89 crew effected a textbook rendezvous and docked with Mir over Russia at an altitude of 244 nautical miles. A significant flight modification for STS-89 was the way Commander Terry Wilcutt approached Mir for docking. He brought the Endeavour in nose-forward to try out techniques needed for several ISS dockings.
The handover from David Wolf to Andy Thomas had only a few hitches. Clearly delighted to see Endeavour, David Wolf waved from a Mir window and did a slow somersault. Crewmembers aboard the Shuttle teased him on the radio. Bonnie Dunbar said, "Were just discussing the fact that maybe Andy forgot his suitcases and we might have to take him back." However, it wasnt Thomas suitcases but his Sokol pressure suit that caused the problem. The Russian custom-made suit would be needed in the event of an emergency evacuation of Mir. When Thomas tried on the suit in orbit, the torso was a little too short, making it difficult to pull it over his shoulders. Thomas speculated he may have "grown" a little, a common effect of microgravity. He tried on Wolfs suit and found that its sleeves were too long. Mir Commander Anatoly Solovyev helped Thomas alter his suit by detaching some internal straps. Later, Thomas said that it fit "like a glove." If necessary, he could safely descend to Earth in the Soyuz.
Endeavour continued its career as a logistics workhorse when 7,400 pounds of gear were transferred between the two ships. In addition to the transfer activities, the STS-89 mission carried the SPACEHAB double module, which contained many scientific experiments.
By STS-89, Payload Commander Bonnie Dunbar had developed a deep professional and personal attachment to the Shuttle-Mir Program. This was her second Mir mission. Involved since the programs beginnings, Dunbar had trained as backup to NASA-1 Mir Astronaut Norm Thagard. She then flew to Mir on the STS-71 flight to pick up Thagard and drop off the Mir-19 crew of Solovyev and Budarin. With STS-89, she met up with Solovyev again, now a part of Mir-24. "When we opened the hatch," Dunbar related later, "it was really fun to see Anatoly." Nearing the missions end, she and her colleague had a little fun. According to Dunbar, "One of the things we didbefore we closed the hatch and leftwas [that] I went in on the other side of the hatch and they took a picture of Anatoly and [me] inside the Mir . When Mission Control in Moscow called us after undocking, they asked me what side of the hatch I was on. I told them [that], unfortunately, I was on the Shuttle side."
The conclusion of the STS-89 mission saw 13 people in three different spacecraft in orbit. Endeavour pulled away from Mir soon after a Soyuz had launched from Baikonur with two Russian cosmonauts and a French researcher. Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin were on their way to Mir with Leopold Eyharts. Eyharts conducted experiments onboard Mir for three weeks before returning to Earth with David Wolfs Mir-24 crewmates. Musabayev and Budarin remained on Mir with Andy Thomas.