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STS-78 Mission Overview

The Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS), a culmination of extensive efforts by an international team of scientists, engineers and support personnel, flew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-78, the longest mission in the history of shuttle flights (17 days). Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk actively participated in the diverse slate of life and microgravity experiments, a total of 41 in all, conducted on board LMS, the reusable laboratory designed to allow scientists to perform experiments in microgravity conditions.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who flew on Mission STS-74 in November of 1995, was lead CAPCOM (Capsule Communicator) for this mission, providing the only direct voice-link between Mission Control and the astronauts in the space shuttle.

The results of the Canadian life sciences Torso Rotation Experiment (TRE) led by McGill University in Montreal and sponsored by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) helped develop a cure for motion sickness and morning sickness in pregnancy.

During its life sciences investigations, the international seven-member crew studied the effects of microgravity on the physiology, development and behaviour of living systems and probed the responses of living organisms to the low-gravity environment of the Space Shuttle Columbia in-orbit.

The crew also studied the processing of materials, studied fluid physics and grew protein crystals in a reduced-gravity environment. LMS microgravity experiments focussed on understanding the subtle influences at work during processing of various samples such as alloy materials when gravity's effect is greatly reduced.

LMS was carried in the Space Shuttle's payload bay. This short-term, shuttle-based research set the stage for long-term science in the permanent International Space Station. Interaction between investigators on the ground and crew members conducting experiments in Spacelab allows the scientists on Earth to work virtually side-by-side with their colleagues in space.

The Johnson Space Center Payload Project consisted of nine NASA-sponsored experiments, three ESA-sponsored experiments and one CSA-sponsored experiment in the following areas of investigation: Musculoskeletal, Human Behaviour and Performance, Regulatory Physiology, Cardiopulmonary Function and Neuroscience.