STS-45
1992 American crewed spaceflight
title: "STS-45" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["space-shuttle-missions", "spacecraft-launched-in-1992"] description: "1992 American crewed spaceflight" topic_path: "general/space-shuttle-missions" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-45" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary 1992 American crewed spaceflight ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox spaceflight"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | STS-45 |
| names_list | Space Transportation System-45 |
| image | STS-45 payload.jpg |
| image_caption | Components of the ATLAS-1 laboratory in the payload bay of Atlantis |
| mission_type | ATLAS-1 astronomy research |
| operator | NASA |
| mission_duration | |
| distance_travelled | 5211340 km |
| orbits_completed | 143 |
| spacecraft | |
| launch_mass | 105982 kg |
| landing_mass | 93009 kg |
| payload_mass | 9947 kg |
| crew_size | 7 |
| crew_members | |
| launch_date | UTC (8:13:39amEST) |
| launch_site | Kennedy, LC-39A |
| launch_contractor | Rockwell International |
| landing_date | UTC (6:23:06amEST) |
| landing_site | Kennedy, SLF Runway 33 |
| orbit_reference | Geocentric orbit |
| orbit_regime | Low Earth orbit |
| orbit_periapsis | 282 km |
| orbit_apoapsis | 294 km |
| orbit_inclination | 57.00° |
| orbit_period | 90.30 minutes |
| apsis | gee |
| instruments | |
| insignia | Sts-45-patch.png |
| insignia_caption | STS-45 mission patch |
| crew_photo | Sts-45 crew.jpg |
| crew_photo_caption | Standing: Lichtenberg, Foale, Leestma, Sullivan and Frimout |
| Seated: Duffy and Bolden | |
| programme | Space Shuttle program |
| previous_mission | STS-42 (45) |
| next_mission | STS-49 (47) |
| :: |
| name = STS-45 | names_list = Space Transportation System-45 | image = STS-45 payload.jpg | image_caption = Components of the ATLAS-1 laboratory in the payload bay of Atlantis | mission_type = ATLAS-1 astronomy research | operator = NASA | mission_duration = | distance_travelled = 5211340 km | orbits_completed = 143 | spacecraft = | launch_mass = 105982 kg | landing_mass = 93009 kg | payload_mass = 9947 kg | crew_size = 7 | crew_members = | launch_date = UTC (8:13:39amEST) | launch_site = Kennedy, LC-39A | launch_contractor = Rockwell International | landing_date = UTC (6:23:06amEST) | landing_site = Kennedy, SLF Runway 33 | orbit_reference = Geocentric orbit | orbit_regime = Low Earth orbit | orbit_periapsis = 282 km | orbit_apoapsis = 294 km | orbit_inclination = 57.00° | orbit_period = 90.30 minutes | apsis = gee | instruments = | insignia = Sts-45-patch.png | insignia_caption = STS-45 mission patch | crew_photo = Sts-45 crew.jpg | crew_photo_caption = Standing: Lichtenberg, Foale, Leestma, Sullivan and Frimout Seated: Duffy and Bolden | programme = Space Shuttle program | previous_mission = STS-42 (45) | next_mission = STS-49 (47)
STS-45 was a 1992 NASA Space Shuttle mission using the . Its almost nine-day scientific mission was with a non-deployable payload of instruments. It was the 46th Space Shuttle mission and the 11th for Atlantis.
Crew
| terminology = Astronaut | position1 = Commander | crew1_up = USA Charles Bolden [[File:Solid blue.svg|8 px|Member of Blue Team]] | flights1_up = Third
| position2 = Pilot | crew2_up = USA Brian Duffy [[File:Solid blue.svg|8 px|Member of Blue Team]] | flights2_up = First
| position3 = Mission Specialist 1 | crew3_up = USA Kathryn D. Sullivan [[File:Solid blue.svg|8 px|Member of Blue Team]] | flights3_up = Third and last
| position4 = Mission Specialist 2 Flight Engineer | crew4_up = USA David Leestma [[File:Solid red.svg|8 px|Member of Red Team]] | flights4_up = Third and last
| position5 = Mission Specialist 3 | crew5_up = USA/United Kingdom Michael Foale [[File:Solid red.svg|8 px|Member of Red Team]] | flights5_up = First
| position6 = Payload Specialist 1 | crew6_up = BEL Dirk Frimout | flights6_up = Only | agency6_up = ESA [[File:Solid blue.svg|8 px|Member of Blue Team]]
| position7 = Payload Specialist 2 | crew7_up = USA Byron K. Lichtenberg [[File:Solid red.svg|8 px|Member of Red Team]] | flights7_up = Second and last
| notes = [[File:Solid blue.svg|8px|Member of Blue Team]] Member of Blue Team [[File:Solid red.svg|8px|Member of Red Team]] Member of Red Team The astronauts were divided into a red team and a blue team to allow around-the-clock monitoring of experiments. | terminology = Astronaut | crew = backup | position6 = Payload Specialist 1 | crew6_up = USA Michael L. Lampton
| position7 = Payload Specialist 2 | crew7_up = USA Charles R. Chappell
Crew seat assignments
::data[format=table]
| Seat | Launch | Landing | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [[File:Space Shuttle seating plan.svg | 150px]] | ||||||||
| Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. | |||||||||
| Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck. | |||||||||
| Bolden | |||||||||
| Duffy | |||||||||
| Sullivan | Foale | ||||||||
| Leestma | |||||||||
| Foale | Sullivan | ||||||||
| Frimout | |||||||||
| Lichtenberg | |||||||||
| :: |
Mission highlights
| date1 = 1992-03-23 8:01 AM | result1 = Scrubbed | reason1 = Technical | decision_date1 = 1992-03-23 3:01 | notes1 = High concentrations of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. | date2 = 1992-03-24 8:33:39 AM | result2 = Success | notes2 = T−9 minute hold extended due to weather concerns. Atlantis was launched on March 24, 1992, at 8:13 a.m. EST. The launch was originally scheduled for March 23, 1992, but was delayed by 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 cryogenic propellants; the launch was rescheduled for March 24, 1992. Atlantis weighed 105982 kg at launch.
STS-45 carried the first Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-1) experiments, placed on Spacelab pallets mounted in the orbiter's payload bay. The non-deployable payload, equipped with 12 instruments from the United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Japan, conducted studies in atmospheric chemistry, solar radiation, space plasma physics and ultraviolet astronomy. ATLAS-1 instruments included the 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; Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM); and Far Ultraviolet Space Telescope (FAUST). Other payloads included the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment, a Get Away Special (GAS) experiment and six mid-deck experiments.
The mission was extended by a day in order to continue science experiments. The landing occurred on April 2, 1992, 6:23 a.m. EST, on Runway 33 of the Shuttle Landing Facility, located at the Kennedy Space Center. The rollout distance was 2812 m and Atlantis weighed 93005 kg on landing.
Mission insignia
The mission insignia covers all aspects of the flight, by featuring Earth and the Sun, and the orbiter on high inclination, as to illustrate the high importance of the mission. The names of all flying members are included in the band, separated by stars. In the 'ring' at the bottom right, a single star is included, separating the unmentioned names of the alternate mission specialists, who are therefore indirectly included; a first and unique tribute to a support crew. Dirk Frimout is the first Belgian citizen to fly into space, and the only one to fly on a Space Shuttle (the other is Frank De Winne (who flies to the International Space Station via Soyuz as mission commander), as the Space Shuttle program was terminated at the time of the latter's flight), but to keep the focus on the mission, no national flag is added nor the customary logo of the European Space Agency (ESA), but the mission main objective, ATLAS, is included below instead.
References
References
- "STS-45". Spacefacts.
- Dunn, Marcia. (1992-03-23). "Shuttle launch scrapped". The Free Lance-Star.
- Fricke, Robert W.. (1992-05-01). "STS-45 Space Shuttle mission report".
- (September 1, 2011). "Space Shuttle Missions Summary". NASA.
- "Background". Institut Pierre Simon Laplace.
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