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STS-52 Mission: USMP-1; LAGEOS II
Space Shuttle: Columbia
Launch Pad: 39B 
Launch Weight: 250,130 pounds
Launched: October 22, 1992, 1:09:39:33 p.m. EDT
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landing: November 1, 1992, 9:05:52 a.m. EST
Landing Weight: 215,114 pounds
Runway: 33 
Rollout Distance: 10,708 feet
Rollout Time: 63 seconds
Revolution: 159
Mission Duration: 9 days, 20 hours, 56 minutes and 13 seconds
Orbit Altitude: 163 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: 28.45 degrees
Miles Traveled: 4.1 million 

Crew Members

                    

Image above: STS-52 Crew photo with Commander James D. Wetherbee, Pilot Michael 
A. Baker, Mission Specialists Charles L. Veach, William M. Shepherd, Tamara E. 
Jernigan and Payload Specialist Steven A. MacLean. Image Credit: NASA 

Mission Highlights

 The primary mission objectives were the deployment of the Laser Geodynamic 
Satellite II (LAGEOS-II) and operation of the U.S. Microgravity Payload-1 
(USMP-1). LAGEOS-II, a joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency 
(ASI), was deployed on day two and boosted into an initial elliptical orbit by 
ASI's Italian Research Interim Stage (IRIS). The spacecraft's apogee kick motor 
later circularized LAGEOS orbit at its operational altitude of 3,666 miles. The 
USMP-1, which was activated on day one, included three experiments mounted on 
two connected Mission Peculiar Equipment Support Structures (MPESS) mounted in 
the orbiter's cargo bay. USMP-1 experiments were: Lambda Point Experiment; 
Materiel Pour L'Etude Des Phenomenes Interessant La Solidification Sur Et En 
Orbite (MEPHISTO), sponsored by the French agency Centre National d'Etudes 
Spatiales; and Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS).

Secondary payloads: (1) Canadian experiment, CANEX-2, located in both the 
orbiter's cargo bay and middeck and which consisted of Space Vision System 
(SVS); Materials Exposure in Low-Earth Orbit (MELEO); Queen's University 
Experiment in Liquid-Metal Diffusion (QUELD); Phase Partitioning in Liquids 
(PARLIQ); Sun Photospectrometer Earth Atmosphere Measurement-2 (SPEAM-2); 
Orbiter Glow-2 (OGLOW-2); and Space Adaptation Tests and Observations (SATO). A 
small, specially marked satellite, the Canadian Target Assembly, was deployed on 
day nine, to support SVS experiments. (2) ASP, featuring three independent 
sensors mounted on a Hitchhiker plate in the cargo bay -, Modular Star Sensor, 
Yaw Earth Sensor and Low Altitude Conical Earth Sensor, all provided by the 
European Space Agency.

Other middeck payloads: Commercial Materials Dispersion Apparatus Instrument 
Technology Associates Experiments; Commercial Protein Crystal Growth experiment; 
Chemical Vapor Transport Experiment; Heat Pipe Performance Experiment; 
Physiological Systems Experiment (involving 12 rodents); and Shuttle Plume 
Impingement Experiment. The orbiter also was used as a reference point for 
calibrating an Ultraviolet Plume Instrument on an orbiting Strategic Defense 
Initiative Organization satellite.

The Tank Pressure Control Experiment/Thermal Phenomena (TPCE/TP) was contained 
in a Getaway Special (GAS) canister in the orbiter's cargo bay. 

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