IMAGE 1300_99\311.Lbm,Crew patch for the STS-46 mission, which depicts the two main elements of the mission, the retrievable European satellite Eureca and the tethered satellite system.
IMAGE 1300_99\312.Lbm,Carrying five NASA astronauts and two ESA scientists, Atlantis blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center on the last day of July, 1992. (STS-46)
IMAGE 1300_99\313.Lbm,Atlantis's robot arm lifts the European retrievable satellite Eureca out of the payload bay, at the end of which can be seen the tethered satellite system. (STS-46)
IMAGE 1300_99\314.Lbm,Marsha Ivins, with tresses expanding voluminously in the weightless conditions, works at the personal general support computer on board Atlantis. (STS-46)
IMAGE 1300_99\315.Lbm,Pictured on Atlantis's forward flight deck are the 'blue shift' members of the STS-46 crew. From the left, they are pilot Andrew Allen, Italian payload specialist Franco Malerba and Swiss scientist Claude Nicollier of ESA.
IMAGE 1300_99\316.Lbm,ESA astronaut Claude Nicollier (left) is Swiss, hence the Swiss flag and the picture of the Swiss Alpine peak, the Matterhorn. He is pictured with mission commander Loren Shriver on Atlantis's aft flight deck. (STS-46)
IMAGE 1300_99\317.Lbm,Pictured on the forward flight deck of Atlantis, Jeffrey Hoffman (left) and Franklin Chang-Diaz pre breathe pure oxygen in case they have to don their spacesuits for EVA activity to assist in tethered satellite operations. (STS-46)
IMAGE 1300_99\318.Lbm,Five of the crew of seven crowd into the aft flight deck area during operations with the tethered satellite system. They are, from the left: Franklin Chang-Diaz, Loren Shriver, Claude Nicollier, Franco Malerba and Andrew Allen. (STS-46)
IMAGE 1300_99\319.Lbm,Franco Malerba, who represents the Italian Space Agency that developed the tethered satellite being tested on this flight. Here he is shooting pictures through one of Atlantis's overhead windows. (STS-46)
IMAGE 1300_99\320.Lbm,The 1.6-metre diameter tethered satellite begins to move away from the deployment boom that extends from the support structure in the payload bay. (STS-46)
IMAGE 1300_99\321.Lbm,The tethered satellite gradually recedes as its tether is paid out. (STS-46)
xxIxxMAGE 1300_99\322a.Lbm,Pictured with the crescent Moon, the tethered satellite is now over 150 metres from the shuttle. But after another 100 metres or so, the paying-out mechanism jams, and the satellite has to be wound back. (STS-46)
xxIxxMAGE 1300_99\322b.Lbm,Atlantis's vertical stabilizer and tail pod are outlined by manoeuvring thruster firings during a night-time pass over the Earth. (STS-46)
IMAGE 1300_99\323.Lbm,Marsha Ivins's weightless locks dominate this on-board portrait of the STS-46 crew. Going clockwise from Marsha, the other crew members are: Jeffrey Hoffman, Claude Nicollier, Loren Shriver, Andrew Allen, Franklin Chang-Diaz and Franco Malerba.
IMAGE 1300_99\324.Lbm,Kitted out once more in his partial pressure flight suit, pilot Andrew Allen carries out final checks on August 8, 1992, before he fires Atlantis's retrorockets to take the orbiter back to Earth. (STS-46)
