sts-43

The primary mission of STS-43 was to deploy a fourth TDRS satellite (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite). The shuttle was launched at 11:02 AM EST on Friday August 2, 1991, and landed at about 8:30 AM EST on Sunday August 11, 1991.

The shuttle carried a Macintosh Portable (nonbacklite) system on board. It was used for four primary purposes:

1) Testing four cursor control devices:
a) the Portable's built-in trackball
b) a modified aircraft control stick fitted with a thumb ball at top
c) a 2-inch trackball
d) an optical mouse

Some bushings were placed under the trackball for experiment 1a to take up the small amount of slack. Experiments 1b-d were performed with third party products.

2) Connecting to AppleLink and sending mail and disk files. The very first electronic mail message from space was sent by the crew of the space shuttle mission on Friday, August 9, 1991. You may be interested in that message:

"Hello Earth ! Greetings from the STS-43 Crew. This is the first AppleLink from space. Having a __GREAT__ time, wish you were here,... send cry, and CS! Have a nice day...... Haste la vista, baby,... we'll be back!"

Explanation here.

The patch in the photo has a green stain. 

STS-43, the ninth mission for Space Shuttle Atlantis, was a nine-day mission whose primary goal was launching the fourth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-E. The flight also tested an advanced heatpipe radiator for potential use on the then-future space station and conducted a variety of medical and materials science investigations.

The primary payload, Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-5 (TDRS-5 or TDRS-E), attached to an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), was deployed about six hours into flight, and the IUS propelled the satellite into geosynchronous orbit. TDRS-5 became the fourth member of the orbiting TDRS cluster. Secondary payloads were Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Element II (SHARE II); Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultra-Violet (SSBUV) instrument; Tank Pressure Control Equipment (TPCE) and Optical Communications Through Windows (OCTW). Other experiments included Auroral Photography Experiment (APE-B) Protein Crystal Growth Ill (PCG Ill); Bioserve / Instrumentation Technology Associates Materials Dispersion Apparatus (BIMDA); Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP); Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS); Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE); Ultraviolet Plume imager (UVPI); and the Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

This version has modern embroidery.

STS-43, the ninth mission for Space Shuttle Atlantis, was a nine-day mission whose primary goal was launching the fourth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-E. The flight also tested an advanced heatpipe radiator for potential use on the then-future space station and conducted a variety of medical and materials science investigations.

The primary payload, Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-5 (TDRS-5 or TDRS-E), attached to an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), was deployed about six hours into flight, and the IUS propelled the satellite into geosynchronous orbit. TDRS-5 became the fourth member of the orbiting TDRS cluster. Secondary payloads were Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Element II (SHARE II); Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultra-Violet (SSBUV) instrument; Tank Pressure Control Equipment (TPCE) and Optical Communications Through Windows (OCTW). Other experiments included Auroral Photography Experiment (APE-B) Protein Crystal Growth Ill (PCG Ill); Bioserve / Instrumentation Technology Associates Materials Dispersion Apparatus (BIMDA); Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP); Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS); Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE); Ultraviolet Plume imager (UVPI); and the Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

The Orbiter Experiments Program Autonomous Supporting Instrumentation System (OASIS) will be flown on STS-26 to record environmental data in the orbiter payload bay during STS flight phases. OASIS will measure TDRS vibration, strain, acoustics and temperature during orbiter ascent, using transducers affixed directly to the payload. OASIS flight hardware consists of signal conditioning, multiplexing and recording equipment mounted on a Shuttle adaptive payload carrier behind the TDRS. Command and status interface is achieved through the standard mixed cargo harness and the general purpose computers. STS-26,  STS-29, STS-43

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.