WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

The Space Shuttle Columbia is hard down at Launch Pad 39A after its rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in preparation for the STS-83 mission. It was transported out to the pad by the crawler-transporter seen beneath the Mobile Launcher Platform that supports Columbia. The Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) Spacelab module is the primary payload on this 16-day space flight. The MSL-1 will be used to test some of the hardware, facilities and procedures that are planned for use on the International Space Station while the seven-member flight crew conducts combustion, protein crystal growth and materials processing experiments. The flight crew members are: Mission Commander James D. Halsell Jr.; Pilot Susan L. Still; Payload Commander Janice E. Voss; Mission Specialist Donald A. Thomas; Payload Specialist Gregory T. Linteris; Mission Specialist Michael L. Gernhardt; and Payload Specialist Roger K. Crouch.