Columbia lifted off on the 75th shuttle mission at 3:18 p.m. on February 22, 1996. The mission was a reflight for the Tethered Satellite System, which failed to fully unreel a small craft on the end of a 12.5-mile tether in 1992 due to a jam. On this mission, the tether broke after reaching near full deployment. The crew was commander Andy Allen, pilot Scott Horowitz, mission specialists Franklin Chang-Diaz, Maurizio Cheli, Jeff Hoffman and Claude Nicollier and the payload specialist Umberto Guidoni.