mda

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) is a satellite that observes the time structure of astronomical X-ray sources, named after Bruno Rossi. The RXTE has three instruments—the Proportional Counter Array, the High-Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE), and the All Sky Monitor. The RXTE observes X-rays from black holes, neutron stars, X-ray pulsars and X-ray bursts. It was funded as part of the Explorer program, and is sometimes also called Explorer 69.
RXTE was launched from Cape Canaveral on 30 December 1995 on a Delta rocket, has an International Designator of 1995-074A and a mass of 3200 kg.

The tests are designed to evaluate equipment and techniques and buildexperience among astronauts and ground controllers in preparation for assembly of the International Space Station. Past EDFT spacewalks have evaluated equipment ranging from the labeling to be used on the exterior of the stationto the nuts and bolts to be used as connectors.

The BioServe/Instrumentation Technology Associates (ITA) Materials
Dispersion Apparatus (BIMDA) payload has been jointly developed by BioServe
Space Technologies, a NASA Center for Commercial Development of Space
(CCDS) located at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and its industrial
affiliate, Instrumentation Technology Associates, Inc. (ITA), Exton, Pa. Also
collaborating in the BIMDA activity are researchers from NASA's Johnson Space
Center, Houston, and Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.