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STS-37 Mission: Gamma Ray Observatory
Space Shuttle: Atlantis
Launch Pad: 39B 
Launch Weight: 255,824 pounds
Launched: April 5, 1991, 9:22:44 a.m. EST
Landing Site: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Landing: April 11, 1991, 6:55:29 a.m. EST
Landing Weight: 190,098 pounds
Runway: 33 
Rollout Distance: 6,364 feet
Rollout Time: 54 seconds
Revolution: 93
Mission Duration: 5 days, 23 hours, 32 minutes, 44 seconds
Return to KSC: April 18, 1991
Orbit Altitude: 248 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: 28.45 degrees
Miles Traveled: 2.5 million 

Crew Members

                    

Image above: STS-37 Crew photo with Commander Steven R. Nagel, Pilot Kenneth D. 
Cameron, Mission Specialists Jerry L. Ross, Jay Apt and Linda M. Godwin. Image 
Credit: NASA 

Mission Highlights

 The primary payload, Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO), was deployed on flight day 
three. The GRO high-gain antenna failed to deploy on command; it was finally 
freed and manually deployed by Ross and Apt during an unscheduled contingency 
space walk, the first since April 1985. The following day, two astronauts 
performed the first scheduled space walk since November 1985 to test means for 
astronauts to move themselves and equipment about while maintaining planned 
Space Station Freedom. The GRO science instruments were Burst and Transient 
Source Experiment (BATSE), Imaging Compton Telescope (COMPTEL), Energetic Gamma 
Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) and Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer 
Experiment (OSSEE). Secondary payloads included Crew and Equipment Translation 
Aids (CETA), which involved scheduled six-hour space walk by astronauts Ross and 
Apt (see above); Ascent Particle Monitor (APM); Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment 
II (SAREX II); Protein Crystal Growth (PCG); Bioserve/instrumentation Technology 
Associates Materials Dispersion Apparatus (BIMDA); Radiation Monitoring 
Equipment III (RME Ill); and Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

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