STS-65


STS-65 was a Space Shuttle program mission of Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 8 July 1994. The flight carried a crew of 7 and was commanded by Robert D. Cabana who would go on later to lead the Kennedy Space Center. STS-65 was an international science mission that carried the International Microgravity Laboratory on a 15-day mission which featured the first animals to conceive and bear offspring in space. Columbia returned to the Kennedy Space Center on 23 July 1994.

Crew

Backup crew

Crew seat assignments

Mission highlights

The International Microgravity Laboratory was the second in a series of Spacelab flights designed to conduct research in a microgravity environment. The IML concept enabled a scientist to apply results from one mission to the next and to broaden the scope and variety of investigations between missions. Data from the IML missions contributed to the research base for the space station.
As the name implies, IML-2 was an international mission. Scientists from the European Space Agency, Canada, France, Germany and Japan collaborated with NASA on the IML-2 mission to provide the worldwide science community with a variety of complementary facilities and experiments. These facilities and experiments were mounted in twenty 19" racks in the IML 2 Module.
Research on IML-2 was dedicated to microgravity and life sciences. Microgravity science covers a broad range of activities from understanding the fundamental physics involved in material behavior to using those effects to generate materials that cannot otherwise be made in the gravitational environment of the Earth. In life sciences research, a reduction of gravitation's effect allows certain characteristics of cells and organisms to be studied in isolation. These reduced gravitational effects also pose poorly understood occupational health problems for space crews ranging from space adaptation syndrome to long-term hormonal changes. On IML-2, the microgravity science and life sciences experiments were complementary in their use of SL resources. Microgravity science tends to draw heavily on spacecraft power while life sciences places the greatest demand on crew time.
Life Sciences Experiments and facilities on IML-2 included: Aquatic Animal Experiment Unit in Rack 3, Biorack in Rack 5, Biostack in Rack 9, Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Program and Spinal Changes in Microgravity in the Center Isle, Lower Body Negative Pressure Device, Microbial Air Sampler, Performance Assessment Workstation in the middeck, Slow Rotating Centrifuge Microscope in Rack 7, Real Time Radiation Monitoring Device and the Thermoelectric Incubator both in Rack 3.
Microgravity experiments and facilities on IML-2 included: Applied Research on Separation Methods in Rack 6, Bubble, Drop and Particle Unit in Rack 8, Critical Point Facility in Rack 9, Electromagnetic Containerless Processing Facility in Rack 10, Free Flow Electrophoresis Unit in Rack 3, Large Isothermal Furnace in Rack 7, Quasi Steady Acceleration Measurement in Rack 3, Space Acceleration Measurement System in the Center Isle, and Vibration Isolation Box Experiment System in Rack 3.
Other payloads on this mission were: Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility, Commercial Protein Crystal Growth, Air Force Maui Optical Site Calibration Test, Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment, Military Application of Ship Tracks, Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II. Columbia flew with an Extended Duration Orbiter pallet and no RMS Arm was installed. This was also the 1st flight of the payload bay door torque box modification on Columbia and the 1st flight of new OI-6 main engine software.

Mission overview

The second in the series of International Microgravity Laboratory payloads was launched on the Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-65 mission on 8 July 1994. After remaining in orbit around the Earth for 15 days, the Shuttle landed on 23 July. The seven-member crew included a Japanese astronaut, Chiaki Mukai, who was the first Japanese woman in space.
Besides NASA, the European Space Agency and the space agencies of Japan, Canada, Germany, and France sponsored experiments on the mission. Investigators from a total of 13 countries participated in research into the behavior of materials and life in microgravity.
The IML-2 payload consisted of more than 80 experiments in microgravity and life sciences, including five life science experiments developed by American researchers. Of these, Ames Research Center sponsored two experiments using newts and jellyfish. Kennedy Space Center sponsored the PEMBSIS experiment, designed to study plant embryogenesis in microgravity.

Life Sciences Research Objectives

An experiment featuring Japanese rice fish sought to examine their mating behavior in microgravity.Image:STS-65 fig6.png|thumb|Together, the semicircular canals and the otolith organs make up the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear, which provides information to the brain about balance and motion in 3-D space. The gravity-dependent otolith organs, lined with hair cell receptors and otoconia, detect linear acceleration of the head. When the head moves, the otoconia lag behind, bending the hair cell receptors and changing the directional signal to the brain.
The objective of the newt experiment was to study the early development of gravity-sensing organs. The utricle and saccule are specialized organs present in the inner ears of all vertebrate animals. They contain otoliths, calcium carbonate stones, which are deposited on a gelatinous membrane that lies over the sensory hair cells. The pull that gravity exerts on the otoliths is sensed by the hair cells, and information about the gravitational stimulus is transmitted to the brain via connecting nerve fibers. The experiment was designed to determine whether otolith production and development of otolith-associated receptor cells and nerve fibers may be altered in the microgravity environment of space.
The jellyfish experiment was designed to study behavior and development in space. Behavioral parameters studied included swimming, pulsing, and orientation. Study of developmental processes focused on gravity-sensing organs. The experiment also sought to determine the level of artificial gravity stimulus needed to counteract any negative effects of space flight.
The objective of the plant embryogenesis experiment was to evaluate whether space flight affected the pattern and developmental progression of embryonic daylilies from one well-defined stage to another. It also examined whether cell division and chromosome behavior were modified by the space environment.

Life Sciences Payload

Organisms

Four adult Japanese rice fish were included in the Aquatic Animal Experiment Unit, with an oriented light to help them find the correct posture for mating in the absence of gravity. The fish successfully mated and laid eggs. 8 eggs hatched in orbit, producing 8 healthy fry and another 30 eggs hatched after returning to Earth. 5 eggs never hatched, although this reflected an expected hatching rate for this species. This experiment therefore featured the first vertebrates to conceive and produce offspring in space.
Adults and larvae of the Japanese Red-Bellied Newt species were used in the newt experiment. This species was selected for study partly because the vestibular system of very young newts undergoes most of its development in a period of time equivalent to the planned mission duration. Furthermore, adult females can be induced to lay eggs by injecting them with a hormone. Their eggs develop in orbit and mature in the microgravity environment to provide scientists with a sample of embryos that have undergone early development in microgravity.
Moon Jellyfish served as experiment subjects for the jellyfish experiment. Both the sedentary polyp stage and the free-swimming ephyra stage of the jellyfish were studied.
The PEMBSIS experiment studied embryogenically competent daylily cells.
Image:Cynops pyrrhogaster NASA.png|thumb|Japanese Red-Bellied Newt

Hardware

Newt adults and larvae were housed in cassette-type water tanks in the Aquarium Package within the Aquatic Animal Experiment Unit, developed by NASDA, the Japanese space agency. The AAEU is a life support unit that can keep fish or other aquatic animals alive for at least 19 days in the Spacelab. It consists of a Main Unit, an Aquarium Package, and a Fish Package, each of which has an independent life support system. In IML-2, each cassette held an egg container with individual egg holes.
A slow rotating centrifuge microscope and camera system, Nizemi, developed by DLR, the German space agency, was used to examine and videotape the behavior of the jellyfish ephyrae and polyps at up to 15 varying levels of G and at a temperature of 28 °C. The Nizemi provides observation of samples under variable acceleration levels between 10–3 and 1.5 G and a controllable temperature between 18 and 37 °C.
Jellyfish were housed in the European Space Agency's Biorack facility within Biorack Type I containers. For descriptions of the facility and containers, see IML-1.
A Refrigerator/Incubator Module held fixed jellyfish specimens. The R/IM is a temperature-controlled holding unit flown in the Shuttle middeck that maintains a cooled or heated environment. It is divided into two holding cavities and can contain up to six shelves accommodating experiment hardware. An Ambient Temperature Recorder was placed inside the R/IM. For a general description of the ATR-4, see IML-1.
The PEMBSIS experiment used hardware provided by the National Space Development Agency of Japan. As part of the NASDA Life Science Cell Culture Kit, this experiment used six petri-dish-like Plant Fixation Chambers. The PFCs were used to hold the cultured plant cells for the PEMBSIS experiment. These containers are completely sealed. The PFCs allow plant cells exposed to space flight to be fixed in orbit by insertion of a chemical fixative via syringe through a septum port.
Image:Aurelia aurita NASA.png|thumb|Jellyfish