STS-64

STS-64

Astronauts Lee and Meade perform an EVA in Discovery's payload bay
Mission type	Research Technology
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1994-059A
SATCAT №	23251
Mission duration	10 days, 22 hours, 49 minutes, 57 seconds
Distance travelled	7,242,048 kilometers (4,500,000 mi)
Orbits completed	176
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Discovery
Payload mass	9,260 kilograms (20,410 lb)
Crew
Crew size	6
Members	Richard N. Richards L. Blaine Hammond, Jr. Jerry M. Linenger Susan J. Helms Carl J. Meade Mark C. Lee
Start of mission
Launch date	9 September 1994, 22:22:35 (1994-09-09UTC22:22:35Z) UTC
Launch site	Kennedy LC-39B
End of mission
Landing date	20 September 1994, 21:12:52 (1994-09-20UTC21:12:53Z) UTC
Landing site	Edwards Runway 4
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	259 kilometres (161 mi)
Apogee	269 kilometres (167 mi)
Inclination	56.9 degrees
Period	89.5 min
Left to right - Front: Hammond, Richards, Helms; Back: Lee, Linenger, Meade Space Shuttle program ← STS-65 STS-68 →

Left to right - Front: Hammond, Richards, Helms; Back: Lee, Linenger, Meade

STS-64 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission to perform multiple experiment packages. It was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 9 September 1994.

STS-64 marked the first flight of Lidar In-space Technology Experiment (LITE) and the first untethered U.S. extravehicular activity (EVA) in 10 years. LITE payload employs lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging, a type of optical radar using laser pulses instead of radio waves to study Earth's atmosphere. The first spaceflight of lidar was a highly successful technology test. The LITE instrument operated for 53 hours, yielding more than 43 hours of high-rate data. Unprecedented views were obtained of cloud structures, storm systems, dust clouds, pollutants, forest burning and surface reflectance. Sites studied included atmosphere above northern Europe, Indonesia and the south Pacific, Russia and Africa. Sixty-five groups from 20 countries made validation measurements with ground-based and aircraft instruments to verify LITE data. The LITE science program wad part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth.

Mission Specialists Lee and Meade completed the 28th EVA of the Space Shuttle program on 16 Sept. During the six-hour, 15- minute EVA, they tested a new backpack called Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), designed for use in event crew member becomes untethered while conducting an EVA. Operations with SAFER marked the first untethered EVA since STS 51-A in 1984, and also the last such EVA of the program. SAFER went on to become a mainstay of US and joint spacewalks during the assembly of the International Space Station and beyond.