physics

STS-49

STS-49 is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand STS-49 rather than just read about it. In short: STS-49 was NASA's maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which launched on May 7, 1992. The primary goal of its nine-day mission was to retrieve an Intelsat VI satellite, Intelsat 603, which failed to leave Low Earth orbit two years before, attach it to a new upper stage, and relaunch it to its intended geosynchronous orbit.

Key takeaways

STS-49 belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect STS-49 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of STS-49 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

STS-49 was NASA's maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which launched on May 7, 1992. The primary goal of its nine-day mission was to retrieve an Intelsat VI satellite, Intelsat 603, which failed to leave Low Earth orbit two years before, attach it to a new upper stage, and relaunch it to its intended geosynchronous orbit. After several attempts, the capture was completed with the only three-person extravehicular activity (EVA) in space flight history. It would also stand until STS-102 in 2001 as the longest EVA ever undertaken.

Crew

Spacewalks EVA 1 Personnel: Thuot and Hieb Date: May 10–11, 1992 (20:40–00:23 UTC) Duration: 3 hours, 43 minutes EVA 2 Personnel: Thuot and Hieb Date: May 11–12, 1992 (21:05–02:35 UTC) Duration: 5 hours, 30 minutes EVA 3 Personnel: Thuot, Hieb and Akers Date: May 13–14, 1992 (21:17–05:46 UTC) Duration: 8 hours, 29 minutes EVA 4 Personnel: Thornton and Akers Date: May 14–15, 1992 (≈21:00–05:00 UTC) Duration: 7 hours, 45 minutes

Crew seat assignments

Mission highlights The Intelsat 603 satellite, stranded in an unusable orbit since launch aboard a Commercial Titan III launch vehicle in March 1990, was captured by crewmembers during an extravehicular activity (EVA) and equipped with a new perigee kick motor. The satellite was subsequently released into orbit and the new motor fired to put the spacecraft into a geosynchronous orbit for operational use. The capture required three EVAs: a planned one by astronauts Thuot and Hieb, who were unable to attach a capture bar to the satellite from a position on the RMS (Canadarm); a second unscheduled but identical attempt the following day; and finally, an unscheduled but successful hand capture by Thuot, Hieb and Akers as commander Brandenstein delicately maneuvered the orbiter to within a few feet of the 4,215 kg (9,292 lb) communications satellite. An Assembly of Station by EVA Methods (ASEM) structure was erected in the cargo bay by the crew to serve as a platform to aid in the hand capture and subsequent attachment of the capture bar. A planned EVA also was performed by astronauts Thornton and Akers as part of the ASEM experiment to demonstrate and verify maintenance and assembly capabilities for Space Station Freedom. The ASEM space walk, originally scheduled for two successive days, was cut to one day because of the lengthy Intelsat retrieval operation. Other "payloads of opportunity" experiments conducted included Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG), Ultraviolet Plume Imager (UVPI) and the Air Force Maui Optical Station (AMOS) investigation. The mission was extended by two days to complete all the mission objectives. On flight day 7, the Ku-band antenna lost its pointing capability. It had to be stowed manually during the final EVA. The following records were set during the STS-49 mission:

First flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour First (and only) EVA involving three astronauts. Second and fourth longest EVAs to date: 8 hours, 29 minutes, and 7 hours, 45 minutes. (Longest EVA to date was during STS-102 in 2001: 8 hours 56 minutes; third longest EVA was during STS-61 in 1993: 7 hour 54 minutes) First Shuttle mission to feature four EVAs. The second longest EVA time for a single Shuttle mission: 25 hours and 27 minutes, or 59:23 person hours. (The longest is STS-61 with 35 hours and 28 minutes) First Shuttle mission requiring three rendezvous with an orbiting spacecraft. First use of a drag chute during a Shuttle landing.

Wake-up calls NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Project Gemini, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15. A special musical track is chosen for each day in space, often by the astronauts' families, to have a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or in reference to the day's planned activities.

Gallery

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with STS-49

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what STS-49 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to STS-49 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about STS-49 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of STS-49

In research: STS-49 appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses STS-49 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: STS-49 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Edwards Air Force Base, Intelsat, May 1992, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for STS-49 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study STS-49 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what STS-49 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain STS-49 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is STS-49 in simple terms?

Why does STS-49 matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study STS-49?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on STS-49.