science

STS-63

STS-63 is a science 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-63 rather than just read about it. In short: STS-63 was the second mission of the U.S.-Russian Shuttle–Mir program and the 20th flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. Dubbed the "Near-Mir" mission, it achieved the first rendezvous between an American Space Shuttle and Russia's space station, Mir.

Key takeaways

STS-63 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect STS-63 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of STS-63 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

STS-63 was the second mission of the U.S.-Russian Shuttle–Mir program and the 20th flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. Dubbed the "Near-Mir" mission, it achieved the first rendezvous between an American Space Shuttle and Russia's space station, Mir. Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B on February 3, 1995, in a night launch. This mission featured several milestones, Eileen Collins became the first female pilot of a Space Shuttle and the first extravehicular activities for both a U.K. born astronaut, Michael Foale, and an astronaut of African heritage, Bernard A. Harris, Jr. STS-63 also successfully deployed and retrieved the Spartan-204 (Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy 204) and executed a flyaround of Mir, a critical rehearsal for the upcoming STS-71 mission, which would mark the first shuttle docking with the Russian space station.

Crew

Spacewalks Foale and Harris – EVA 1 EVA 1 Start: February 9, 1995 – 11:56 UTC EVA 1 End: February 9, 1995 – 16:35 UTC Duration: 4 hours, 39 minutes

Crew seat assignments

Mission highlights

STS-63's primary objective was to perform a rendezvous and fly around the Russian space station Mir. The objectives of the Mir rendezvous were to verify flight techniques, communications and navigation aid sensor interfaces, and engineering analyses associated with Shuttle/Mir proximity operations in preparation for the STS-71 docking mission.

Other objectives of the flight were to perform the operations necessary to fulfill the requirements of experiments located in SPACEHAB-3 and to fly captively, then deploy and retrieve the Spartan-204 (Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy), a free-flying retrievable platform. Spartan-204 was designed to obtain data in the far ultraviolet region of the spectrum from diffuse sources of light. Two crewmembers were scheduled to perform a five-hour spacewalk. Payloads flying aboard STS-63 included the Cryo Systems Experiment (CSE), the Shuttle Glow (GLO-2) experiment, Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres (ODERACS-2), the Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE), the Air Force Maui Optical Site Calibration Test (AMOS) and the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX). Beginning on flight day one, a series of thruster burns were performed daily to bring Discovery in line with Mir. The original plan called for the orbiter to approach to no closer than 10 meters (33 ft) from Mir, and then complete a flyaround of the Russian space station. However, three of the orbiter's 44 Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters—small firing jets used for on-orbit maneuvering—sprang leaks prior to rendezvous. Shortly after main engine cutoff, two leaks occurred in the aft primary thrusters, one of which—called R1U—was key to rendezvous. A third leak occurred later in flight in the forward primary thruster, but the crew was able to fix the problem. After extensive negotiations and technical information exchanges between the U.S. and Russian space teams, the Russians concluded close approach could be safely achieved and the STS-63 crew was given 'go' to proceed. R1U's thruster manifold was closed and the backup thruster was selected for the approach. Ship-to-ship radio contact with Mir was achieved well ahead of time, and Titov, who had previously lived on Mir for more than a year, communicated excitedly with the three cosmonauts aboard the space station: Mir 17 Commander Alexander Viktorenko; Flight Engineer Yelena Kondakova; and Valery Polyakov, a physician who had broken Titov's record for extended time in space. After stationkeeping at a distance of 122 meters (400 ft) from Mir and with Wetherbee manually controlling the orbiter, Discovery was flown to 11 meters (36 ft) from the Russian space station on February 6, 1995 at 19:23:20 UTC. "As we are bringing our spaceships closer together, we are bringing our nations closer together," Wetherbee said after Discovery was at point of closest approach. "The next time we approach, we will shake your hand and together we will lead our world into the next millennium."

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with STS-63

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what STS-63 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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-63 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-63 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-63

In research: STS-63 appears in science 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-63 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-63 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Space Shuttle missions, Spacecraft launched in 1995, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for STS-63 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-63 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what STS-63 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-63 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is STS-63 in simple terms?

Why does STS-63 matter?

Because it connects several science 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-63?

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-63.