STS-42 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission with the Spacelab module. Liftoff which was originally scheduled for 8:45 EST (13:45 UTC) 22 January 1992, but the launch was delayed due to weather constraints. Discovery successfully lifted off an hour later at 9:52 EST (14:52 UTC).
The main goal of the mission was to study the effects of microgravity on a variety of organisms. The shuttle landed at 8:07 PST (16:07 UTC) on 30 January 1992 on Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, California.
Carried into orbit the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 (IML-1), a pressurized manned Spacelab module, to explore in depth the complex effects of weightlessness on living organisms and materials processing. The international crew, divided into Red and Blue teams, conducted experiments on the human nervous system's adaptation to low gravity and the effects of microgravity on other life forms such as shrimp eggs, lentil seedlings, fruit fly eggs and bacteria. Low gravity materials processing experiments included crystal growth from a variety of substances such as enzymes, mercury iodine and a virus. Other payloads included 10 Get Away Special (GAS) canisters, a number of middeck payloads and two Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments. Middeck payloads included Gelation of SOLS: Applied Microgravity Research (GOSAMR), Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP) and the Radiation Monitoring Experiment (RME-III).
Randy Hunt produced a replica with the original crewmember Sonny Carter instead of Hilmers. Manley "Sonny" Carter, who was killed in the crash of Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 in Brunswick, Georgia while on a commercial airplane traveling for NASA. Carter was originally assigned as a mission specialist on STS-42 at the time of his death. The Randy Hunt replica is readily identified by the extremely poor, "fluffy" cloud design.
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