STS-87

STS-87

AERCam Sprint, one of the USMP-4 payloads, in flight above Columbia's payload bay
Names	Space Transportation System-87
Mission type	Microgravity research Technology development
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1997-073A
SATCAT no.	25061
Mission duration	15 days, 16 hours, 35 minutes, 01 seconds
Distance travelled	10,500,000 kilometres (6,500,000 mi)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Columbia
Landing mass	102,717 kilograms (226,452 lb)
Payload mass	4,451 kilograms (9,813 lb)
Crew
Crew size	6
Members	Kevin R. Kregel Steven W. Lindsey Winston E. Scott Kalpana Chawla Takao Doi Leonid Kadeniuk
Start of mission
Launch date	19 November 1997, 19:46 (1997-11-19UTC19:46Z) UTC
Launch site	Kennedy, LC-39B
End of mission
Landing date	5 December 1997, 12:20 (1997-12-05UTC12:21Z) UTC
Landing site	Kennedy, SLF Runway 33
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	273 kilometres (170 mi)
Apogee altitude	279 kilometres (173 mi)
Inclination	28.45 degrees
Period	90.0 min
Left to right - in orange: Chawla, Lindsey, Kregel, Kadenyuk; in white: Scott, Doi Space Shuttle program ← STS-86 (87) STS-89 (89) →

STS-87 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from Launch Complex 39B of the Kennedy Space Center on 19 November 1997. It was the 88th flight of the Space Shuttle and the 24th flight of Columbia. The mission goals were to conduct experiments using the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-4), conduct two EVAs, and deploy the SPARTAN-201 experiment. This mission marked the first time an EVA was performed from Columbia. EVAs from Columbia were originally planned for STS-5 in 1982 and STS-80 in 1996, but were canceled due to spacesuit and airlock problems, respectively.^[1][2] It also marked the first EVA conducted by a Japanese astronaut, Takao Doi.