STS-40

STS-40
	Spacelab Module LM1 in Columbia's payload bay, serving as the Spacelab Life Sciences laboratory
Names	Space Transportation System-40
Mission type	Spacelab Life Sciences-1 (SLS-1)
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1991-040A
SATCAT no.	21399
Mission duration	9 days, 2 hours, 14 minutes, 20 seconds
Distance travelled	6,083,223 km (3,779,940 mi)
Orbits completed	146
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Columbia
Launch mass	114,290 kg (251,970 lb)
Landing mass	102,283 kg (225,495 lb)
Payload mass	12,374 kg (27,280 lb)
Crew
Crew size	7
Members	Bryan D. O'Connor; Sidney M. Gutierrez; James P. Bagian; Tamara E. Jernigan; Rhea Seddon; F. Drew Gaffney; Millie Hughes-Fulford;
Start of mission
Launch date	June 5, 1991, 13:24:51 UTC (9:24:51 am EDT)
Launch site	Kennedy, LC-39B
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	June 14, 1991, 15:39:11 UTC (8:39:11 am PDT)
Landing site	Edwards, Runway 22
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	287 km (178 mi)
Apogee altitude	296 km (184 mi)
Inclination	39.02°
Period	90.40 minutes
Instruments
	Getaway Special (GAS) canisters; Middeck Zero-Gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE);
	; STS-40 mission patch; ; Back row: O'Connor, Jernigan and Gutierrez; Front row: Gaffney, Hughes-Fulford, Seddon and Bagian Space Shuttle program ← STS-39 (40) STS-43 (42) →

STS-40, the eleventh launch of Space Shuttle Columbia, was a nine-day mission in June 1991. It carried the Spacelab module for Spacelab Life Sciences 1 (SLS-1), the fifth Spacelab mission and the first dedicated solely to biology. STS-40 was the first spaceflight that included three women crew members.^[1]

Crew


Position	Astronaut
Commander	Bryan D. O'Connor Second and last spaceflight
Pilot	Sidney M. Gutierrez First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1	James P. Bagian Second and last spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2 Flight Engineer	Tamara E. Jernigan First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3	Rhea Seddon Second spaceflight
Payload Specialist 1	F. Drew Gaffney Only spaceflight
Payload Specialist 2	Millie Hughes-Fulford Only spaceflight

Backup crew
Position	Astronaut
Payload Specialist 2	Robert W. Phillips

Crew seat assignments

Seat^[2]	Launch	Landing	Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
1	O'Connor
2	Gutierrez
3	Bagian
4	Jernigan
5	Seddon
6	Gaffney
7	Hughes-Fulford

Mission highlights

Attempt	Planned	Result	Turnaround	Reason	Decision point	Notes
1	22 May 1991, 12:00:00 am	Scrubbed	—	Technical	20 May 1991, 12:00 am (T−11:00:00 hold)	Leaking in liquid hydrogen transducer.^[3]
2	1 Jun 1991, 8:00:00 am	Scrubbed	10 days 7 hours 60 minutes		1 Jun 1991, 7:00 am (T−00:20:00 hold)	Calibration failure in IMU 2.
3	5 Jun 1991, 9:24:51 am	Success	4 days 1 hour 25 minutes			Delayed by one hour and 24 minutes due to low cloud cover.^[3]

Payload bay configuration for the STS-40 mission

The launch was originally set for May 22, 1991. The mission was postponed less than 48 hours before launch when it became known that a leaking liquid hydrogen transducer in the orbiter's main propulsion system, which was removed and replaced during leak testing in 1990, had failed an analysis by a vendor.^[4] Engineers feared that one or more of the nine liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen transducers protruding into fuel and oxidizer lines could break off and be ingested by the engine turbopumps, causing engine failure.

In addition, one of the orbiter's five general purpose computers failed completely, along with one of the multiplexer demultiplexers that controlled the orbiter's hydraulics ordinance and Orbital Maneuvering System / Reaction Control System functions in the aft compartment.

A new general purpose computer and multiplexer demultiplexer were installed and tested. One liquid hydrogen and two liquid oxygen transducers were replaced upstream in the propellant flow system near the 43 cm (17 in) disconnect area, which is protected by internal screen. Three liquid oxygen transducers were replaced in the engine manifold area, while three liquid hydrogen transducers here were removed and the openings plugged. The launch was reset for 8:00 a.m. EDT, June 1, 1991, but postponed again after several attempts to calibrate inertial measurement unit 2 failed.^[5] The unit was replaced and retested, and the launch was rescheduled for June 5, 1991.^[6] The mission launched successfully on June 5, 1991, at 9:24:51 a.m. EDT and the mission had a launch weight of 114,290 kg (251,970 lb).^[3] The launch was also captured on IMAX cameras, and used in the 2015 documentary film Journey to Space.

It was the fifth dedicated Spacelab mission, Spacelab Life Sciences-1, and first dedicated solely to life sciences, using the habitable module. The mission featured the most detailed and interrelated physiological measurements in space since the 1973–1974 Skylab missions. The subjects involved were humans, 30 rodents and thousands of tiny jellyfish. Primary SLS-1 experiments studied six body systems; of 18 investigations, ten involved humans, seven involved rodents, and one used jellyfish.

Six body systems investigated were cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary (heart, lungs and blood vessels); renal/endocrine (kidneys and hormone-secreting organs and glands); blood (blood plasma); immune system (white blood cells); musculoskeletal (muscles and bones); and neurovestibular (brains and nerves, eyes and inner ear). Other payloads included twelve Getaway Special (GAS) canisters installed on GAS bridge in cargo bay for experiments in materials science, plant biology and cosmic radiation (see G-616); Middeck Zero-Gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE); and seven Orbiter Experiments (OEX).

Columbia landed on June 14, 1991, at 8:39:11 a.m. PDT, on Runway 22, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. It returned to KSC on June 21, 1991.^[7]

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 the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities. ^[8]^: 4, 23


Day	Song	Artist/Composer	Played For
Day 2	"Great Balls of Fire"	Jerry Lee Lewis
Day 3	A "Military Medally"^[a]		O'Connor, Gutierrez
Day 4	"Yakety Yak"	The Coasters
Day 5	Greetings from the crews' children "Somewhere Out There" from the movie "An American Tail"	Linda Ronstadt, James Ingram
Day 6	"Cow Patty"		Tammy Jernigan
Day 7	"Shout - The Faber College Theme" from the movie "Animal House"	Otis Day and the Knights
Day 8	"Twistin' the Night Away" from the movie, "Animal House"	Sam Cooke
Day 9	"Chain Gang"	The Nylons
Day 10	"What a Wonderful World"	Louis Armstrong

Notes

^ Consisting of Air Force and Marine Corps songs for O'Connor and Gutierrez, a Marine Corp Colonel and an Air Force Lt. Colonel respectively.

References

^ Jones, Caleb. "Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-40". Space Launch Now. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
^ "STS-40". Spacefacts. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c Legler, Robert D.; Bennett, Floyd V. (September 1, 2011). "Space Shuttle Missions Summary" (PDF). Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program Office. NASA. pp. 2–48. NASA/TM–2011–216142. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Fricke, Robert W. (July 1, 1991). STS-40 Space Shuttle mission report (PDF) (Report). Retrieved October 29, 2024.
^ Dye, Lee (June 2, 1991). "Shuttle Delayed Again; Unit for Navigation Fails : Space: The problem is found shortly before blastoff. Scrubbing the launch comes at an awkward time as hearings on NASA start this week". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
^ "STS-40 - NASA". Retrieved April 29, 2024.
^ Dumoulin, Jim (June 29, 2001). "STS-40". Kennedy Space Center Science, Technology and Engineering. NASA/KSC Information Technology Directorate. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2024. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Fries, Colin (March 13, 2015). "Chronology of Wakeup Calls" (PDF). NASA History Division. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2024.

External links

[9] Consisting of Air Force and Marine Corps songs for O'Connor and Gutierrez, a Marine Corp Colonel and an Air Force Lt. Colonel respectively.

[1] Jones, Caleb. "Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-40". Space Launch Now. Retrieved April 29, 2024.

[2] "STS-40". Spacefacts. Retrieved February 26, 2014.

[STIsummary2-3] Legler, Robert D.; Bennett, Floyd V. (September 1, 2011). "Space Shuttle Missions Summary" (PDF). Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program Office. NASA. pp. 2–48. NASA/TM–2011–216142. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[4] Fricke, Robert W. (July 1, 1991). STS-40 Space Shuttle mission report (PDF) (Report). Retrieved October 29, 2024.

[Dye-5] Dye, Lee (June 2, 1991). "Shuttle Delayed Again; Unit for Navigation Fails : Space: The problem is found shortly before blastoff. Scrubbing the launch comes at an awkward time as hearings on NASA start this week". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 29, 2024.

[6] "STS-40 - NASA". Retrieved April 29, 2024.

[7] Dumoulin, Jim (June 29, 2001). "STS-40". Kennedy Space Center Science, Technology and Engineering. NASA/KSC Information Technology Directorate. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2024. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[chronology-8] Fries, Colin (March 13, 2015). "Chronology of Wakeup Calls" (PDF). NASA History Division. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2024.

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v t e Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102)
Flights	STS-1 STS-2 STS-3 STS-4 STS-5 STS-9 STS-61-C STS-28 STS-32 STS-35 STS-40 STS-50 STS-52 STS-55 STS-58 STS-62 STS-65 STS-73 STS-75 STS-78 STS-80 STS-83 STS-94 STS-87 STS-90 STS-93 STS-109 STS-107
Status	Out of service: Columbia disaster (destroyed) 1 February 2003 (STS-107)
Related	Columbia Accident Investigation Board STS-61-E STS-61-H STS-144 Columbia Memorial Space Center Columbia Hills (Mars) "Countdown" (1982 song) Hail Columbia (1982 documentary) Columbia: The Tragic Loss (2004 documentary)

v t e ← 1990 Orbital launches in 1991 1992 →
January	NATO 4A Progress M-6 Italsat 1, Eutelsat-2 F2 Kosmos 2121 Kosmos 2122 Informator No.1
February	Kosmos 2123 Kosmos 2124 Kosmos 2125, Kosmos 2126, Kosmos 2127, Kosmos 2128, Kosmos 2129, Kosmos 2130, Kosmos 2131, Kosmos 2132 Kosmos 2133 Kosmos 2134 Molniya 1-80 Kosmos 2135 Gran' No.38L
March	Astra 1B, Meteosat 5 Kosmos 2136 USA-69 Inmarsat-2 F2 Nadezhda No.409 Progress M-7 Kosmos 2137 Molniya-3 No.55 Kosmos 2138 Almaz 1
April	Kosmos 2139, Kosmos 2140, Kosmos 2141 Anik E2 STS-37 (Compton GRO) ASC-2 Kosmos 2142 BS-3h Meteor-3 No.6 STS-39 (IBSS/SPAS (CRO-A, CRO-B, CRO-C), USA-70)
May	NOAA-12 Kosmos 2143, Kosmos 2144, Kosmos 2145, Kosmos 2146, Kosmos 2147, Kosmos 2148 Soyuz TM-12 Resurs-F2 No.6 Kosmos 2149 Satcom C5 Progress M-8
June	Okean-O1 No.6 STS-40 Kosmos 2150 Kosmos 2151 Molniya 1-81 Unnamed Resurs-F1 No.52 REX
July	Gorizont No.34L USA-71, Losat-X Kosmos 2152 Kosmos 2153 ERS-1, Orbcomm-X, SARA , Tubsat-A, UoSAT-5 Microsat 1, Microsat 2, Microsat 3, Microsat 4, Microsat 5, Microsat 6, Microsat 7 Resurs-F1 No.53
August	Molniya 1-82 STS-43 (TDRS-5) Intelsat VI F5 Meteor-3 No.5 Progress M-9 Resurs-F2 No.7 Kosmos 2154 Yuri 3b IRS-1B Yohkoh Unnamed
September	STS-48 (UARS) Kosmos 2155 Molniya-3 No.48 Kosmos 2156 Anik E1 Kosmos 2157, Kosmos 2158, Kosmos 2159, Kosmos 2160, Kosmos 2161, Kosmos 2162
October	Soyuz TM-13 Foton No.7L Kosmos 2163 Kosmos 2164 Progress M-10 Gorizont No.35L Intelsat VI F1
November	USA-72, USA-74, USA-76, USA-77 Kosmos 2165, Kosmos 2166, Kosmos 2167, Kosmos 2168, Kosmos 2169, Kosmos 2170 Kosmos 2171 Kosmos 2172 STS-44 (USA-75) Kosmos 2173 USA-73
December	Eutelsat-2 F3 Telecom 2A, Inmarsat-2 F3 Kosmos 2174 Interkosmos 25, Magion 3 Gran' No.39L Zhongxing-4
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).