Fifteen years ago today — January 11, 1996 — the Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from the Kennedy Space Center with an international crew.
(STS-72 clears the launch tower. NASA image.)
U.S. astronauts Brian Duffy, Brent W. Jett, Jr., Leroy Chiao, Daniel T. Barry, and Winston E. Scott were joined by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata on mission STS-72.
The crew retrieved the Japanese “Space Flyer Unit,” a microgravity research satellite originally placed in orbit by a Japanese H-2 rocket the previous March. They also deployed and retrieved the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) “Flyer,” a free-flying platform rigged with a number of different experiments, during their 8-day mission.
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