Space Shuttle Columbia STS-40 (1991)
Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-40, the fifth spacelab mission.
The Mission
STS-40 was the fifth dedicated Spacelab mission and the first entirely devoted to biomedical research — officially designated Spacelab Life Sciences-1 (SLS-1). The mission was designed to study the effects of microgravity on the human body and on other biological organisms in a suite of experiments that had been years in the planning. It was particularly significant for being one of the most diverse shuttle crews assembled at that point, including the first Hispanic-American woman in space.
Did You Know?
STS-40 crew member Dr. Sidney Gutierrez was the first Hispanic-American pilot to fly in space. The mission also carried 2,478 mice, rats, sea urchin eggs, and other biological specimens alongside the human crew as part of 18 life sciences experiments — NASA's most comprehensive biomedical research mission to that point.
Launch & Flight
Space Shuttle Columbia launched on June 5, 1991, from Kennedy Space Center. The seven-person crew was commanded by Bryan O'Connor and included pilot Sidney Gutierrez, mission specialists James Bagian, Tamara Jernigan, Rhea Seddon, and Francis Andrew Gaffney, and payload specialist Millie Hughes-Fulford — only the second civilian woman to fly in space on the shuttle. The crew conducted 18 experiments over nine days studying the cardiovascular system, neurovestibular function, metabolism, and the biology of other organisms in microgravity.
Scientific Legacy
Columbia landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California on June 14, 1991, after nine days in orbit. The STS-40 mission produced valuable data on how the human body adapts to weightlessness — knowledge that has informed every subsequent long-duration mission on the International Space Station. Columbia flew 27 more missions before its catastrophic breakup during reentry on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members of STS-107.