Steve Robinson Visit
STS-95 Payload Commander

by Ray Oyung

March 5, 1999

It's amazing how fast time flies! The Program has quite a few things on the plate and there never seems to be quite enough time to do all the things we want to do. Since returning from Houston for STS-95, we've been working hard analyzing the data from the mission. And speaking of STS-95 which launch last November, the payload commander Steve Robinson visited his old stomping grounds and gave a presentation of the mission. He and I are both members of West Valley Flying Club in Palo Alto, California and Steve was generous enough to spend a couple hours telling us stories and showing slides and video of his almost 9 day experience on the mission.

We saw video of the Earth as the shuttle orbited overhead. This flight was the highest orbit that any shuttle has ever "flown" in order to test equipment that will be used on the Hubble Telescope. Could you imagine circling the Earth over 370 miles above everyone else? Steve shared information on some of the work that was conducted on this mission and someone asked which was his favorite experiment. Although each of the over 80 experiments on board the shuttle had interesting aspects of science associated with them, his favorite was an experiment that may be used in the process to cure cancer. Lots of work is being done on Earth to find the causes and cures for cancer, and scientists may have found one process that can only be done in a micro-gravity environment that may lead to a cure for this disease.

Working behind the scenes of this mission was very exciting, and being able to see footage of the mission as it was taking place was just icing on the cake!