astronomy

STS-82

STS-82 is a astronomy 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-82 rather than just read about it. In short: STS-82 was the 22nd flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the 82nd mission of the Space Shuttle program. It was NASA's second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, during which Discovery's crew repaired and upgraded the telescope's scientific instruments, increasing its research capabilities.

Key takeaways

STS-82 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect STS-82 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of STS-82 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

STS-82 was the 22nd flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the 82nd mission of the Space Shuttle program. It was NASA's second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, during which Discovery's crew repaired and upgraded the telescope's scientific instruments, increasing its research capabilities. Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 11, 1997, returning to Earth on February 21, 1997, at Kennedy Space Center.

Crew Discovery was crewed by a seven person team for the STS-82 mission.

Spacewalks EVA 1 Lee and Smith Start: February 14, 1997 – 04:34 UTC End: February 14, 1997 – 11:16 UTC Duration: 6 hours, 42 minutes EVA 2 Harbaugh and Tanner Start: February 15, 1997 – 03:25 UTC End: February 15, 1997 – 10:52 UTC Duration: 7 hours, 27 minutes EVA 3 Lee and Smith Start: February 16, 1997 – 02:53 UTC End: February 16, 1997 – 10:04 UTC Duration: 7 hours, 11 minutes EVA 4 Harbaugh and Tanner Start: February 17, 1997 – 03:45 UTC End: February 17, 1997 – 10:19 UTC Duration: 6 hours, 34 minutes EVA 5 Lee and Smith Start: February 18, 1997 – 03:15 UTC End: February 18, 1997 – 08:32 UTC Duration: 5 hours, 17 minutes

Crew seat assignments

Mission objectives

The STS-82 mission was the second in a series of planned servicing missions to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope ("HST"), which had been placed in orbit on April 24, 1990, by Discovery during STS-31. The first servicing mission was done by Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-61. Work performed by Discovery's crew significantly upgraded the scientific capabilities of the HST and helped to keep the telescope functioning smoothly until the next scheduled servicing missions, which were STS-103 in 1999 and STS-109 in 2002. On the third day of the mission, Discovery's seven-member crew conducted the first of four spacewalks (also called Extra-vehicular Activities or "EVAs") to remove two older instruments and install two new astronomy instruments, as well as perform other servicing tasks. The two older instruments being replaced were the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph and the Faint Object Spectrograph, exchanged for the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), respectively.

In addition to installing the new instruments, astronauts replaced other existing hardware with upgrades and spares. Hubble received a refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor, an optical device used to provide pointing information for the telescope and as a scientific instrument for astrometric science. The Solid State Recorder (SSR) replaced one of HST's three Engineering Science Tape Recorders (ESTR). An ESTR is a reel-to-reel tape recorder. The SSR, compared to an ESTR, can perform simultaneous recording and playback of data, and store ten times more data. Another ESTR was also replaced, but with a spare ESTR unit. One of Hubble's four Reaction Wheel Assemblies (RWA) -- part of the telescope's Pointing Control Subsystem—was replaced with a refurbished spare. The RWAs use angular momentum to move and maintain the telescope in a desired position. The wheel axes are oriented so that the telescope can provide science with only three wheels operating, if required. Study of the returned mechanism provided a rare opportunity to study equipment that had undergone long-term service (7 years) in space, particularly for the effects of vacuum on lubricants which were found to be in 'excellent condition'.

Mission results

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with STS-82

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what STS-82 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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-82 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-82 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-82

In research: STS-82 appears in astronomy 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-82 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-82 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions, Space Shuttle missions, Spacecraft launched in 1997, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for STS-82 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-82 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what STS-82 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-82 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is STS-82 in simple terms?

Why does STS-82 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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-82?

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-82.