![]() The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory after deployment, photographed from Atlantis's flight deck. | |
Names | Space Transportation System-37 |
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Mission type | Compton Gamma Ray Observatory deployment |
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1991-027A |
SATCAT no. | 21224![]() |
Mission duration | 5 days, 23 hours, 32 minutes, 44 seconds |
Distance travelled | 2,487,075 mi (4,002,559 km) |
Orbits completed | 93 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Atlantis |
Launch mass | 116,040 kg (255,820 lb) |
Landing mass | 86,227 kg (190,098 lb) |
Payload mass | 17,204 kg (37,928 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 5 |
Members | |
EVAs | 2 |
EVA duration |
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Start of mission | |
Launch date | April 5, 1991, 14:22:45 UTC (9:22:45 am EST) |
Launch site | Kennedy, LC-39B |
Contractor | Rockwell International |
End of mission | |
Landing date | April 11, 1991, 13:55:29 UTC (5:55:29 am PST) |
Landing site | Edwards, Runway 33 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 450 km (280 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 462 km (287 mi) |
Inclination | 28.45° |
Period | 93.70 minutes |
Instruments | |
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![]() STS-37 mission patch ![]() Standing in EVA suits: Apt and Ross Seated: Cameron, Nagel and Godwin |
STS-37, the thirty-ninth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the eighth flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, was a six-day mission with the primary objective of launching the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), the second of the Great Observatories program which included the visible-spectrum Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) and the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope.[1] The mission also featured two spacewalks, the first since 1985.