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STS-31
1990 s31 IMAX view of HST release.jpg
Discovery deploys the Hubble Space Telescope.
Names Space Transportation System-35
STS-31R
Mission type Hubble Space Telescope deployment
Operator NASA
Mission duration 5 days, 1 hour, 16 minutes, 6 seconds (achieved)
Distance travelled 3,328,466 km (2,068,213 mi)
Orbits completed 80
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch mass 117,586 kg (259,233 lb)
Landing mass 85,947 kg (189,481 lb)
Payload mass 11,878 kg (26,187 lb)
Crew
Crew size 5
Members
Start of mission
Launch date 24 April 1990, 12:33:51 UTC
Rocket Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch site Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B
Contractor Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date 29 April 1990, 13:49:57 UTC
Landing site Edwards Air Force Base,
Runway 22
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric orbit
Regime Low Earth orbit
Perigee 613 km (381 mi)
Apogee 615 km (382 mi)
Inclination 28.45°
Period 96.70 minutes
Sts31 flight insignia.png
STS-31 mission patch
Sts-31 crew.jpg
Charles F. Bolden Jr., Steven A. Hawley, Loren J. Shriver, Bruce McCandless II, Kathryn D. Sullivan
← STS-36 (34)
STS-41 (36) →

STS-31 was the 35th mission of the NASA Space Shuttle program. The primary purpose of this mission was the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) into low Earth orbit. The mission used the Space Shuttle Discovery (the tenth mission for this orbiter), which lifted off from Launch Complex 39B on 24 April 1990 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Following the Challenger accident clarification was required on mission numbering. As STS-51-L was also designated STS-33, future flights with the previous STS-26 through STS-33 designators would require the R in their documentation to avoid conflicts in tracking data from one mission to another.

Discovery's crew deployed the Hubble Space Telescope on 25 April 1990, and then spent the rest of the mission tending to various scientific experiments in the Shuttle's payload bay as well as operating a set of IMAX cameras to record the mission. Discovery's launch marked the first time since January 1986 that two Space Shuttles had been on the launch pad at the same time – Discovery on 39B and Columbia on 39A.

Crew

Position Astronaut
Commander Loren J. Shriver
Second spaceflight
Pilot Charles F. Bolden Jr.
Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1 Bruce McCandless II
Second and last spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2 Steven A. Hawley
Third spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3 Kathryn D. Sullivan
Second spaceflight

Crew seating arrangements

Seat Launch Landing
STS-121 seating assignments

Seats 1–4 are on the Flight Deck. Seats 5–7 are on the Middeck.
S1 Shriver Shriver
S2 Bolden Bolden
S3 McCandless Sullivan
S4 Hawley Hawley
S5 Sullivan McCandless

Mission highlights

STS-31 Launch - GPN-2000-000684
Space Shuttle Discovery launches from LC-39B for STS-31 with Columbia on LC-39A in preparation for STS-35.
1990 s31 IMAX view of HST in payload bay
HST in the cargo bay

STS-31 was launched on 24 April 1990 at 8:33:51 a.m. EDT. A launch attempt on 10 April 1990 was scrubbed at T-4 minutes for a faulty valve in auxiliary power unit (APU) number one. The APU was eventually replaced and the Hubble Space Telescope's batteries were recharged. On launch day, the countdown was briefly halted at T-31 seconds when Discovery's computers failed to shut down a fuel valve line on ground support equipment. Engineers ordered the valve closed and the countdown continued.

The main purpose of this mission was to deploy Hubble. It was designed to operate above the Earth's turbulent and obscuring atmosphere to observe celestial objects at ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The Hubble mission was a joint NASA-ESA (European Space Agency) effort going back to the late 1970s. The rest of the mission was devoted to photography and onboard experiments. To launch HST into an orbit that guaranteed longevity, Discovery entered an orbit of around 613 × 615 km (381 × 382 mi). At one point during the mission, Discovery briefly reached an apogee of 621 km (386 mi), the highest altitude ever reached by a Shuttle orbiter. The record height also permitted the crew to photograph Earth's large-scale geographic features not apparent from lower orbits. Motion pictures were recorded by two IMAX cameras, and the results appeared in the 1994 IMAX film Destiny in Space. Experiments on the mission included a biomedical technology study, advanced materials research, particle contamination and ionizing radiation measurements, and a student science project studying zero gravity effects on electronic arcs. Discovery's reentry from its higher than usual orbit required a deorbit burn of 4 minutes and 58 seconds, the longest in Shuttle history up to that time. Discovery also orbited the Earth 80 times during the mission.

During the deployment of Hubble, one of the observatory's solar arrays stopped as it unfurled. While ground controllers searched for a way to command HST to unreel the solar array, Mission Specialists McCandless and Sullivan began preparing for a contingency spacewalk in the event that the array could not be deployed through ground control. The array eventually came free and unfurled through ground control, while McCandless and Sullivan were pre-breathing inside the partially depressurized airlock.

Secondary payloads included the IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC) to document operations outside the crew cabin, and a handheld IMAX camera for use inside the orbiter. Also included were the Ascent Particle Monitor (APM) to detect particulate matter in the payload bay; a Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) experiment to provide data on growing protein crystals in microgravity, Radiation Monitoring Equipment III (RME III) to measure gamma ray levels in the crew cabin; Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP) to determine porosity control in the microgravity environment, and an Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

The mission marked the flight of an 5 kg (11 lb) human skull, which served as the primary element of "Detailed Secondary Objective 469", also known as the In-flight Radiation Dose Distribution (IDRD) experiment. This joint NASA/DoD experiment was designed to examine the penetration of radiation into the human cranium during spaceflight. The female skull was seated in a plastic matrix, representative of tissue, and sliced into ten layers. Hundreds of thermo-luminescent dosimeters were mounted in the skull's layers to record radiation levels at multiple depths. This experiment, which also flew on STS-28 and STS-36, was located in the shuttle's mid-deck lockers on all three flights, recording radiation levels at different orbital inclinations.

Discovery landed on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base in California 29 April 1990 at 6:49:57 a.m. PDT. The landing had a rollout distance of 2,705 m (8,875 ft) took 61 seconds, and marked the first use of carbon brakes on a shuttle. Discovery was returned to Kennedy Space Center after STS-31 on 7 May 1990.

Attempt Planned Result Turnaround Reason Decision point Weather go (%) Notes
1 10 Apr 1990, 12:00:00 am scrubbed technical  ​(T-4 seconds) Faulty valve in Auxiliary power unit (APU) Number One.
2 24 Apr 1990, 12:33:51 pm delayed, successful 14 days, 12 hours, 34 minutes technical  ​(T-31 seconds) Countdown was held at T-31 seconds when a fuel valve line on ground support equipment failed to shut automatically. The valve was shut manually and the countdown was resumed.

Wake-up calls

NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Project Gemini, which was first used to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15. Each track is specially chosen, often by their families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.

Flight Day Song Artist/Composer
Day 2 "Space is Our World" Private Numbers
Day 3 "Shout" Otis Day and the Knights
Day 4 "Kokomo" Beach Boys
Day 5 "Cosmos" Frank Hayes
Day 6 "Rise and Shine" Raffi

Gallery

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: STS-31 para niños

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