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Hadfield's Tasks

As Mission Specialist 1, Chris Hadfield had some key responsibilities. At launch, Hadfield monitored the ascent and helped with procedures from the right-hand window seat, just behind the pilot, Jim Halsell. In the event of an emergency, his role would have become very important by helping the crew with backup checklists.

Throughout the flight he was the main operator of the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System, or Canadarm, and did a number of other things with it besides installing the Docking Module. Early in the mission, after the arm's power-up and checkout, he flew it over the payload bay and recorded the TV views from its wrist camera. At the end of this survey, he positioned the arm as a calibration target for another experiment, PASDE, and left it out, high over the bay thoughout the second night in orbit.

Flight Day 3, as explained in the next section, was a big day for Hadfield when he used the arm to build the DM/orbiter structure. During this operation, Hadfield was also responsible for checking-out and calibrating the Advanced Space Vision System (ASVS), and used it, with help from Bill McArthur, during both the DM installation and the AtlantisMir undocking. The ASVS was a prototype for an operational vision system that was used in building the International Space Station and Hadfield recorded all of the important data from its tests.

Hadfield was also responsible for activating and running a number of other experiments including PASDE and GLO-4. The "Photogrammetric Appendage Structural Dynamics Experiment," or PASDE, accurately recorded the dynamics of one of the Mir solar arrays as it reacted to the jolts from docking and from a jet firing sequence, and to the thermal stresses of moving between day and night in orbit. The experiment used several special cameras mounted in GAS canisters at three places in the orbiter's bay. The GLO-4 experiment recorded the strange glow phenomena visible at night as the two spacecraft plowed through the thin upper layers of the atmosphere. When attitude control jets are fired the light show is particularly interesting.

Other operational tasks for Hadfield included crew support during approach and docking (where he helped communicate with the Mir crew in Russian and operated the hand-held laser range finder) and preparing the Docking Module for use by both crews. During the joint phase of the mission, he performed a photographic and video survey of Mir from the shuttle and measured the noise environment inside the Russian space station.

Hadfield also spent nearly seven hours filling large containers with more than 400 kg of water produced from the Atlantis fuel cells. He helped move these containers and other supplies and food to the Russians and then shepherded numerous items, including parts from Mir, back to Atlantis for return to Earth. On the last days in orbit he had the opportunity to speak to amateur radio stations and schools with the onboard SAREX ham radio. On entry and landing, Hadfield sat (by himself) in the mid-deck of Atlantis.