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This is NASA's press kit for Space Shuttle mission STS-75, dated February 1996 and later edited by Richard W. Orloff. It covers Columbia's planned 13-day flight carrying the Italian Tethered Satellite System reflight (TSS-1R) and the third United States Microgravity Payload. The kit sets out launch and landing plans, abort modes, the timeline, payload weights, crew duties, the tether's science objectives and investigators, and crew biographies. It does not mention any unidentified objects.
“Earth orbit”11 pages
Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 14 SCIENCE ABOARD STS-75 Science aboard STS-75 comes in two parts: developing and understanding the basic dynamic and electrodynamic processes governing tethered systems. The flight also will focus on improving our basic knowledge on materials under microgravity conditions. The TSS-1R flight will explore ideas and test concepts which may be applied to spacecraft of the future. It also will lead to an increased understanding of physical processes in the near-Earth space environment. USMP-3 is a pathfinder for 21st century technologies needed to spur development of a new generation of computers, electronics and metals. During the first two days in space, the crew will activate and perform health checks on the Tethered Satellite System and the USMP equipment. On the third flight day, the astronauts will unreel the Tethered Satellite spaceward into Earth's electrically charged upper atmosphere, known as the ionosphere, to begin a series of studies about how the two interact. The major portion of TSS investigations will be conducted on flight days two through five, although data collection will continue throughout the mission. Also on flight day two, crew members will activate major USMP experiments. Once microgravity experiments are running, most will be remotely controlled, a mode of operation known as telescience. Flight days five through 12 will be devoted mainly to conducting USMP investigations while the crew carries out combustion experiments in a device known as the glovebox, located in the middeck. During this time, Columbia's position will be adjusted periodically to give USMP experiments the best possible conditions based on measurement of microgravity disturbances by on-board sensors.
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