STS-83 (Columbia)

 1997-013A

---

STS-83 was the MSL-1 (Microgravity Science Lab) Spacelab/EDO mission. An afternoon launch on April 4 followed a one-day technical delay; the count was held at the T-19 hour mark to add thermal insulation to a water coolant line. Columbia carried the Spacelab Long Module as well as the OARE acceleration monitor and a Hitchhiker-G experiment (CRYOFD) in the cargo bay. The middeck included a set of protein crystallography experiments.

Commander Jim Halsell was on his third flight, but his first as commander. Susan Still became the second woman to sit in the pilot's seat, while Janice Voss was payload commander with mission specialists Michael Gernhardt and Don Thomas. Thomas was lucky to be aboard - he broke an ankle during training, and Cady Coleman was named as a last-minute backup. A couple of weeks before launch, however, Thomas was cleared for flight and Coleman stood down. Two payload specialists completed the crew, both materials scientists. Roger Crouch was a long-time NASA scientist currently stationed at NASA Headquarters. He had been alternate PS for an earlier Spacelab mission. Gregory Linteris worked at the National Institute for Standards and Technology.

Problems with Fuel Cell 2 became apparent on Apr 5, and on Apr 6 after hours of discussion Mission Control declared a Minimum Duration Flight (MDF), with a return to Earth on Apr 8 instead of the originally planned Apr 19.

Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1997 Mar 5		Tow to VAB
1997 Mar 11	1130	Rollout to LC39A
1997 Apr 4	1920:32	Launch	KSC LC39A
	1922:35	SRB sep
	1929:04	MECO
	1929:23	ET sep	88.22 69 x 303 x 28.46
	2000:27	OMS 2 2:23 68m/s	90.56 300 x 303 x 28.46
	2002:50	OMS 2 CO
	2109	PLBD open complete
	2120?	Fuel cell problem
1997 Apr 5			90.55 299 x 303 x 28.47
1997 Apr 6	1930	Fuel Cell 2 shut down
		MDF declared
1997 Apr 7			90.53 298 x 303 x 28.47
1997 Apr 8	1455	PLBD closed	90.52 297 x 301 x 28.47
	1731:18	OMS DO 3:22 99.0m/s	-34 x 301 x 28.5
	1734:40	OMS DO CO
	1801	Entry interface
	1833:11	MGTD KSC RW33, 3:23:12:39
	1833:23	NGTD
	1834:10	Wheels stop