Mission Insignia
Mission Statistics
Mission:	STS-44
Shuttle:	Atlantis
Launch Pad:	39-A
Launch:	November 24, 1991, 6:44:00 p.m. EST.
Landing:	December 1, 1991, 2:34:12 p.m. PST, Runway 5. Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Duration:	6 days, 22 hours, 50 minutes, 44 seconds.
Orbit Altitude:	197 nautical miles (365 km)
Orbit Inclination:	28.5 degrees
Distance Traveled:	2,890,067 miles (4,651,112 km)
Crew photo

Crew

• Frederick D. Gregory (3), Commander
• Terence T. Henricks (1), Pilot
• F. Story Musgrave (4), Mission Specialist
• Mario Runco, Jr. (1), Mission Specialist
• James S. Voss (1), Mission Specialist
• Thomas J. Hennen (1), Payload Specialist

Mission Parameters

• Mass:
  • Orbiter landing with payload: 87,919 kg
  • Payload: 20,240 kg
• Perigee: 363 km
• Apogee: 371 km
• Inclination: 28.5°
• Period: 91.9 min

Mission Highlights

Launch: November 24, 1991, 6:44:00 p.m. EST. Launch set for November 19 delayed due to malfunctioning redundant inertial measurement unit on Inertial Upper Stage booster attached to Defense Support Program satellite. Unit replaced and tested. Launch reset for November 24, delayed 13 minutes to allow an orbiting spacecraft to pass and to allow external tank liquid oxygen replenishment after minor repairs to valve in the liquid oxygen replenishment system in the mobile launcher platform. Launch weight: 259,629 lb (117,766 kg).

Dedicated Department of Defense mission. Unclassified payload included Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite and attached Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), deployed on flight day one. Cargo bay and middeck payloads: Interim Operational Contamination Monitor(IOCM); Terra Scout; Military Man in Space (M88-1); Air Force Maui Optical System (AMOS); Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM); Shuttle Activation Monitor (SAM); Radiation Monitoring Equipment III (RME III); Visual Function Tester-1 (VFT-1); Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPI). Bioreactor Flow and Particle Trajectory experiment; and Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project, a series of investigations in support of Extended Duration Orbiter.

Landing: December 1, 1991, 2:34:44 p.m. PST, Runway 5, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Rollout distance: 11,191 feet. Rollout time: 107 seconds. Landing originally scheduled for KSC on December 4, but ten day mission shortened and landing rescheduled following November 30 on-orbit failure of one of three orbiter inertial measurement units. Lengthy rollout due to minimal braking for test. Orbiter returned to KSC on December 8. Landing weight: 193,825 lb (87,918 kg).

Related articles

• Space science
• Space shuttle
• List of space shuttle missions
• List of human spaceflights chronologically

External links

• NASA mission summary