NASA STS 75 The Tether Incident

STS75 was a United States NASA Space Shuttle mission, the 19th mission of the Columbia orbiter. The primary objective of STS75 was to carry the Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS1R) into orbit and to deploy it spaceward on a conducting tether. The mission also flew the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP3) designed to investigate materials science and condensed matter physics. STS75 mission scientists hoped to deploy the tether to a distance of 20. 7 kilometers (12. 9 mi). Over 19 kilometers of the tether were deployed before the tether broke. It remained in orbit for a number of weeks and was easily visible from the ground, appearing something like a small but surprisingly bright fluorescent light traveling through the sky. TSS1R. TSS1R tether composition NASA. The electric conductor of the tether was a copper braid wound around a nylon (Nomex) string. It was encased in teflonlike insulation, with an outer cover of kevlar, inside a nylon (Nomex) sheath. The culpri