Twenty years ago today — October 22, 1992 — the Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center on an international science mission.
(LAGEOS-II deployment from STS-52. NASA image.)
STS-52 carried a six-member crew: James D. Wetherbee, Michael A. Baker, Charles L. Veach, William M. Shepherd, Tamara E. Jernigan, and Canadian astronaut Steven G. MacLean. They deployed the joint U.S.-Italian Laser Geodynamic Satellite II (LAGEOS II) — second in a series of laser-ranging target satellites* — and conducted a variety of internationally-sponsored materials science experiments.
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LAGEOS I had been launched in 1976.
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