STS-75 press kit

Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 5
RELEASE: 96-27
REFLIGHT OF TETHERED SATELLITE HIGHLIGHTS STS-75
NASA's second Shuttle mission of the year and the 75th in the history of the program will be highlighted
by the flight of the Italian Tethered Satellite System designed to investigate new sources of spacecraft
power and ways to study Earth's upper atmosphere. STS-75 also will see Columbia's seven-person crew
work with the United States Microgravity Payload which continues research efforts into development of
new materials and processes that could lead to a new generation of computers, electronics and metals.
The STS-75 crew will be commanded by Andrew Allen, who will be making his third Shuttle flight. Scott
Horowitz will serve as pilot and will be making his first space flight. Jeff Hoffman will serve as Mission
Specialist-1 and will be making his fifth flight. There will be two European Space Agency astronauts --
Maurizio Cheli and Claude Nicollier. Cheli will be serving as Mission Specialist 2, making his first flight,
and Nicollier, serving as Mission Specialist-3, will be making his third flight. NASA astronaut Franklin
Chang-Diaz, serving as Payload Commander and Mission Specialist-4, will be making his fifth flight. Also
serving as Payload Specialist-1 for STS-75 is Umberto Guidoni, from the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
Launch of Columbia is currently targeted for February 22, 1996, at approximately 3:18 p.m. EST from
Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-B. The STS-75 mission is scheduled to last 13 days, 16
hours, 14 minutes. An on-time launch on February 22 would produce a landing at Kennedy Space Center's
Shuttle Landing Facility on March 7 at 7:32 a.m. EST.
The Tethered Satellite System's flight, designated TSS-1R ("R" for reflight), will be a scientific adventure
aimed at understanding the possibilities for putting tether technology to work in space for a variety of
applications. Tethered systems can be used to generate thrust to compensate for atmospheric drag on
orbiting platforms such as the international Space Station. Deploying a tether towards Earth could place
movable science platforms in hard-to-study atmospheric zones. Tethers also could be used as antennas to
transmit extremely low frequency signals able to penetrate land and sea water, providing for
communications not possible with standard radio. Non-electrical tethers can be used to generate artificial
gravity and to boost payloads to higher orbits.
Computer-based communications traveling at the speed of light along the information superhighway have
led to a revolution in the way we conduct business, and our lives. The third United States Microgravity
Payload (USMP-3) continues a series of missions aimed at understanding the basic properties of materials
in order to produce better semiconductors for complex computers and other high-tech electronics. USMP
science also could help produce stronger metal alloys sought by the aircraft and automobile industries to
improve their economic competitiveness. Millions of dollars are spent each year on ground-based studies in
these areas, but on Earth, gravity overshadows or distorts many measurable results. The near-weightless
environment aboard the Space Shuttle unmasks subtle physical processes, giving researchers a clearer look
into the laws of nature, a perspective that cannot be seen in laboratories on Earth.
The STS-75 mission will be the 19th mission for Columbia and the 75th for the Space Shuttle system.
(END OF GENERAL RELEASE; BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOLLOWS.)