International Space Station Assembly Flight 2A.2b
objectives of the STS-106 mission will be to perform outfitting
tasks in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space
Station and to transfer elements delivered on Flight 2A.2b. The
crew will transfer supplies from the SPACEHAB Logistics Double
Module, items mounted on the Integrated Cargo Carrier and items
stowed in the middeck of Atlantis to the space station. Also,
the seven astronauts will transfer supplies from a docked Russian
Progress resupply ship, which arrived at the station in July.
one planned space walk, or Extra Vehicular Activity, to connect
the Zarya Control Module to the Zvezda Service Module power and
communications cables and to install hardware that will aid the
space station in conserving propellant fuel.
Logistics Double Module
Logistics Double Module is a pressurized, mixed-cargo carrier,
which supports various quantities, sizes and locations of experiment
hardware. It augments the orbiter middeck by providing a total
cargo capacity of up to 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds) with the
ability to accommodate powered payloads. The module is 6.1 meters
(20 feet) long, 4.3 meters (14 feet) wide and 3.4 meters (11.2
SPACEHAB will carry approximately 3,674 kilograms (8,100 pounds)
of hardware, equipment and logistical supplies to outfit the space
Cargo Carrier, or ICC, is an externally mounted, unpressurized,
aluminum flatbed pallet, coupled with a keel-yoke assembly, that
expands the shuttle's capability to transport cargo.
it will carry 1,300 kilograms (2,865 pounds) of cargo to orbit.
The ICC is 2.4 meters (8 feet) long, 4.6 meters (15 feet) wide
and 25 centimeters (10 inches) thick, with a capacity to carry
up to 2,721 kilograms (6,000 pounds) of cargo.
The ICC also
carries the SPACEHAB-Oceaneering Space System, or SHOSS, Box.
SHOSS is an unpressurized "tool box" attached to the
top of the ICC with the capacity to carry up to 181 kilograms
(400 pounds) of tools and other flight equipment.
Experiment Module 8
Eye lenses, seeds, water, DNA and steel are just some of the materials
that will be the subjects of student research on the eighth flight
of the Space
Experiment Module, or SEM, project, NASA's educational initiative
to increase access to space for students from kindergarten to
college. All together, 13 passive experiments will be flown on
first SEM flight in 1996, tens of thousands of students have flown
experiments in space that they have created, designed, and built
with the help of teachers or mentors. NASA provides the experiment
modules, or containers, which are placed in standard 0.14-cubic-meter
(5-cubic-foot) Getaway Special canisters that are mounted in the
orbiter's payload bay.
payload, or Aria-1 as it is known to its sponsors, is an educational
project to give elementary and high school students in the St.
Louis area an opportunity to be involved in hands-on space science
and perhaps steer them toward science, engineering and technology
careers. Aria-1 is a joint project of the School of Engineering
and Applied Science of Washington University in St. Louis and
the Cooperating School Districts, an educational consortium of
47 school districts in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area.
300 students from eight St. Louis, Mo., schools prepared hypotheses,
designed experiments, collected materials, and prepared flight
articles under the guidance of their teachers. After the flight,
the students will compare flight samples with ground controls
to determine the effects of microgravity, radiation, magnetism,
and other possible phenomena experienced in the low Earth orbit
environment of the shuttle mission.
is completely passive and requires no crew action.
Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus
Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, or CGBA, experiments that explore
the ways biological processes are affected by microgravity - the
near-weightlessness of space - may allow researchers better understand
the nervous system. Scientists also plan to use the CGBA to investigate
growing human tissue for use in surgical procedures such as skin
grafts and organ transplants and in developing medicines.
will be conducted on STS-106: Synaptogenesis in Microgravity and
Kidney Cell Gene Expression.
Micro-Wireless Instrumentation System (Micro-WIS) HEDS Technology
HTD 1403 will demonstrate the operational utility and functionality
of the Micro-Wireless
Instrumentation System, or micro-WIS, in orbit, initially
in the crew cabin of the shuttle orbiter and then on the International
Space Station. The micro-WIS consists of tiny autonomous sensors
for data acquisition. Two versions have been developed — a transmitter
and a recorder. This HTD is designed to demonstrate the micro-WIS
transmitter and recorder.
Crystal Growth Enhanced Gaseous Nitrogen Dewar
The primary purpose of the Enhanced
Gaseous Nitrogen, or EGN, Dewar experiment is to demonstrate
a low-cost platform for conducting a large number of experiments
to determine the optimum conditions for growing large, high-quality
protein crystals in space. Researchers require crystals of sufficient
size and suitable quality for crystallographic analysis of their
molecular structure by X-ray diffraction and computer modeling.
EGN promises to give researchers greater access to space and the
opportunity to conduct a statistically significant number of experiments
per mission, which will increase the likelihood of obtaining crystals
worthy of X-ray analysis. The STS-106 astronauts will place the
Dewar aboard the International Space Station.
from middle and high schools across the United States are helping
scientists with this project, which will become the first
long-duration experiment on the space station.