page_title: STS-87
section_title: SPARTAN-201
hierarchical_section_title: STS-87 / Mission highlights / SPARTAN-201
caption_attribution_description: The Spartan 201 satellite, held in the grasp of the Space Shuttle Columbia's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm, is backdropped over white clouds and blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. Long Island, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, is barely visible in the lower left corner.
context_page_description: 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, conduct two EVAs, and to deploy the SPARTAN-201 experiment. This mission marked the first time an EVA was performed from Columbia. An EVA from Columbia was originally planned for STS-5 in 1982, but was cancelled due to spacesuit problems. It also marked the first EVA conducted by a Japanese astronaut, Takao Doi.
context_section_description: Spartan 201-04 is a Solar Physics Spacecraft designed to perform remote sensing of the hot outer layers of the sun's atmosphere or solar corona. It is expected to be deployed on orbit 18 and retrieved on orbit 52. The objective of the observations are to investigate the mechanisms causing the heating of the solar corona and the acceleration of the solar wind which originates in the corona. Two primary experiments are the Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrometer from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and the White Light Coronograph (WLC) from the High Altitude Observatory. Spartan 201 has three secondary experiments. The Technology Experiment Augmenting Spartan (TEXAS) is a Radio Frequency (RF) communications experiment which provided flight experience for components baselined on future Spartan missions, and a real time communications and control link with the primary Spartan 201 experiments. This link was used to provide a fine pointing adjustment to the WLC based on solar images downlinked real time. The Video Guidance Sensor (VGS) Flight Experiment is a laser guidance system which tested a key component of the Automated Rendezvous and Capture (AR&C) system. The Spartan Auxiliary Mounting Plate (SPAM) is a small equipment mounting plate which provided a mounting location for small experiments or auxiliary equipment of the Spartan Flight Support Structure (SFSS) It is a honeycomb plate using an experimental Silicon Carbide Aluminum face sheet material with an aluminum core.
caption: Deployment of SPARTAN
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