 | STS093-(S)-002 (Sept. 1998) --- The five astronauts assigned to fly aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia early next year for the STS-93 mission pose with a small model of their primary payload-the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF). From the left are astronauts Eileen M. Collins, mission commander; Steven A. Hawley, mission specialist; Jeffrey S. Ashby, pilot; Michel Tognini and Catherine G. Coleman, both mission specialists. Tognini represents France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The scheduled five-day mission will feature the deployment of AXAF, which will enable scientists to conduct comprehensive studies of exotic phenomena in the universe. Among bodies studied will be exploding stars, quasars and black holes. |
 | STS0093-309-027 (23-27 July 1999) --- Astronauts Eileen M. Collins, mission commander; and Jeffrey S. Ashby, pilot, peruse checklists on Columbia's middeck. Collins and Ashby were joined by three mission specialists for almost five days in Earth orbit. The busiest of those days was the first, during which they released into space the world's most powerful X-Ray telescope and initiated a number of in-cabin experiments. |
 | STS093-319-003 (23-27 July 1999) --- Astronaut Catherine G. (Cady) Coleman, mission specialist, handles a tiny mouse ear plant on Columbia's flight deck. The plant experiment is part of the Plant Growth Investigations in Microgravity (PGIM). |
 | STS093-319-029 (23-27 July 1999) --- Astronaut Jeffrey S. Ashby, pilot, works with the Space Tissue Loss-B experiment on Columbia's middeck. The experiment is set up to observe cells in culture with a video microscope imaging system to record near-real-time interactions of detecting and inducing cellular responses (macromorphological changes). |
 | STS093-321-017 (23-27 July 1999) --- Astronaut Eileen M. Collins, mission commander, floats on Columbia's middeck during a free moment. She and four other astronauts spent almost five days in Earth orbit in support of the STS-93 mission. The first day was perhaps the astronauts' busiest, as it was on that day they deployed the world's most powerful X-Ray telescope and began to conduct a battery of in-cabin experiments |
 | STS093-321-035 (23-27 July 1999) --- Astronauts Catherine G. (Cady) Coleman and Michel Tognini, mission specialists, check out the Lightweight Flexible Solar Array Hinge (LFSAH, upper left) on Columbia's middeck. LFSAH consists of several hinges fabricated from shape-memory alloys and other spacecraft appendages. During the five-day STS-93 flight, the experiment demonstrated the deployment capability of a number of hinge configurations. The experiment is sponsored by the U.S. Air Force Research Lab, Kirtland Air Force Base. Tognini represents the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) of France. |
 | STS093-322-017 (23-27 July 1999) --- The five STS-93 astronauts pose for the traditional inflight crew portrait on Columbia's middeck. In front are astronauts Eileen M. Collins, mission commander, and Michel Tognini, mission specialist representing France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Behind them are (from the left) astronauts Steven A. Hawley, mission specialist; Jeffrey S. Ashby, pilot; and Catherine G. (Cady) Coleman, mission specialist. |
 | STS093-325-034 (27 July 1999) --- Astronaut Michel Tognini, mission specialist representing France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), prepares for Columbia's descent to Earth on the fifth and final day of the STS-93 mission. He is wearing the special partial pressure launch and entry suit, minus its helmet at this point. Behind him is the escape pole designed to be used in emergency egress. |
 | STS093-327-004 (23-27 July 1999) --- Astronaut Steven A. Hawley works with data associated with the Orbital Communications Adapter (OCA) on the middeck of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Not far away from him is the window-mounted instrument which supports the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System (SWUIS). SWUIS is an innovative telescope/charge-coupled device camera system designed to image planets and other solar system bodies. |
 | STS093-327-016 (23-27 July 1999) --- Astronaut Jeffrey S. Ashby, pilot, prepares to take a still photograph from Columbia's flight deck. Ashby and four other astronauts spent almost five days in Earth orbit in July 1999. |
