STS-48

STS-48 was Discovery's September 1991 Space Shuttle mission to deploy the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. NASA lists John Creighton as commander, Kenneth Reightler as pilot, and Mark Brown, Charles Gemar, and James Buchli as mission specialists. Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A on September 12, 1991, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on September 18 after 5 days, 8 hours, 27 minutes, and 38 seconds in orbit. The flight was the first Shuttle mission in support of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program. Its primary payload, UARS, was placed into orbit to study chemistry, winds, energy input, and related processes in Earth's upper atmosphere and stratosphere. The deployment helped create a long-duration atmospheric data set at a time when ozone chemistry and human effects on the atmosphere were major research concerns. Alongside UARS, the crew operated a set of secondary experiments in biology, materials, fluids, radiation monitoring, and protein crystal growth. NASA's mission record also notes launch-countdown troubleshooting, 81 revolutions of Earth, a 57-degree orbital inclination, and an Edwards landing after weather kept Discovery from returning to Kennedy as originally planned.