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STS073-226-010 (20 October - 5 November 1995) --- Astronaut Kathryn C. Thornton, payload commander, works at the Drop Physics Module (DPM) onboard the Spacelab science module located in the cargo bay of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia. Thornton, along with four other NASA astronauts and two guest researchers, spent more than two-weeks aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in support of the United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) mission. |
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STS073-229-014 (20 October - 5 November 1995) --- Astronauts Kathryn C. Thornton, payload commander, and Kenneth D. Bowersox, mission commander, observe a liquid drop's activity at the Drop Physics Module (DPM) in the science module aboard the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia. The drop is partially visible at the center of the left edge of the frame. The two were joined by three other NASA astronauts and two guest researchers for almost 16-days of in-orbit research in support of the U.S. Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) mission. |
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STS073-230-014 (20 October - 5 November 1995) --- Astronaut Kenneth D. Bowersox, commander, uses a camcorder to record United States Microgravity Laboratory 2 (USML-2) activities onboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. Nearby, astronaut Kathryn C. Thornton, payload commander, prepares to open a supply chest to support one of many science experiments conducted by the seven-member crew during the 16-day USML-2 flight. |
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STS073-232-013 (20 October - 5 November 1995) --- Astronaut Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, mission specialist, checks notes related to the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA) aboard the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia. CGBA supported over one hundred individual experiments on small quantities of samples ranging from molecules to small organisms. Lopez-Alegria joined four other NASA astronauts and two guest researchers for 16-days of United States Microgravity Laboratory 2 (USML-2) research aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. |
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STS073-233-007 (20 October - 5 November 1995) --- Payload specialist Fred W. Leslie makes use of the versatile U.S. Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) glovebox to conduct an investigation with the Oscillatory Thermocapillary Flow Experiment (OTFE). This complement of the Surface-Tension-Driven Convection Experiment (STDCE) studies the shapes that fluid surfaces in weightless environments assume within specific containers. Leslie was one of two guest researchers who joined five NASA astronauts for 16 days of on Earth-orbit research in support of USML-2. |
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STS073-233-032 (20 October - 5 November 1995) --- Astronaut Michael E. Lopez-Alegria (left), mission specialist, assists payload specialist Fred W. Leslie in an inflight maintenance task involving the Fiber Support Droplet Combustion (FSDC) experiment. This new Glovebox investigation tests a technique for studying combustion in the weightless environment of space. The two joined five other crew members onboard the Space Shuttle Columbia for 16 days of in-space research in support of the United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) mission. |
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STS073-303-015 (20 October - 5 November 1995) --- The crew members picked the site of their busy workdays as the setting for the traditional inflight crew portrait, as personnel from both work shifts assembled in the science module supporting the U.S. Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) mission. Astronaut Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, mission specialist, has his arms folded at front center. The others pictured, counter clockwise from that point, are Kathryn C. Thornton, payload commander; Catherine G. Coleman, mission specialist; Albert Sacco, payload specialist; Kent V. Rominger, pilot; Fred W. Leslie, payload specialist; and Kenneth D. Bowersox, mission commander. |
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STS073-326-021 (20 October - 5 November 1995) --- The darkness of space and the Atlantic coast of southern Africa form the backdrop for this scene. Five NASA astronauts and two guest researchers spent almost 16 days of research in this science module affixed in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Columbia in Earth-orbit. The tunnel in bottom foreground served as the busy passageway for the seven crew members, who split their forces into two shifts. South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope are the dominant features that can be delineated in the Earth scene. |
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STS073-335-009 (20 October-5 November 1995) --- Astronaut Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, STS-73 mission specialist, changes the film in a 35mm camera on the flight deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia. Alegria joined four other NASA astronauts and two guest researchers for almost 16-days of Earth-orbit research in support of the U.S. Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) mission. |
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STS073-337-021 (20 October - 5 November 1995) --- Three members of the crew check out the Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG) on the mid deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia. Left to right are astronauts Kenneth D. Bowersox and Kent V. Rominger, mission commander and pilot, respectively, and payload specialist Albert Sacco Jr. ZCG evaluated Zeolite crystallization and growth in the microgravity environment aboard Columbia in order to achieve high yields of large, nearly perfect crystals in space. Zeolites are complex arrangements of silica and alumina that occur naturally as well as synthetically. |
