STS-45

STS-45 was Atlantis' March-April 1992 Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science mission, better known as ATLAS-1. Charles Bolden commanded the seven-person crew, with Brian Duffy as pilot and Kathryn Sullivan, David Leestma, Michael Foale, Byron Lichtenberg, and Dirk Frimout supporting the science program. Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A on March 24, 1992, and landed on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility on April 2 after 8 days, 22 hours, and 9 minutes in orbit. The mission carried a non-deployable Spacelab payload in the orbiter bay, with instruments from the United States and several international partners. ATLAS-1 was designed to study the interaction between Earth's atmosphere and the Sun, collecting observations in atmospheric chemistry, solar radiation, plasma physics, and ultraviolet astronomy. NASA and ESA records list the payload suite as including instruments such as ATMOS, the Grille Spectrometer, MAS, ISO, ALAE, AEPI, SEPAC, SOLCON, SOLSPEC, SUSIM, and FAUST. STS-45 was also an important European and Belgian spaceflight milestone. Dirk Frimout flew as a payload specialist representing Belgium's ATLAS-1 science participation, becoming the first Belgian in space, while the mission gave NASA, ESA, and partner researchers a concentrated Shuttle-era data set for Earth-atmosphere and solar-terrestrial studies. The flight was extended by one day so the crew could continue science operations before returning safely to Kennedy.