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| Mission Insignia |
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| Mission Statistics |
| Mission: | STS-26 |
| Shuttle: | Discovery |
| Launch Pad: | 39-B |
| Launch: | September 29, 1988,
11:37:00 a.m. EDT |
| Landing: | October 3, 1988,
9:37:11 a.m. PDT |
| Duration: | 4 days, 1 hour,
0 minutes, 11 seconds. |
| Orbit Altitude: | 203 nautical miles |
| Orbit Inclination: | 28.5 degrees |
| Miles Traveled: | 1,680,000 |
| Crew photo |
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STS-26 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was the 26th shuttle mission, and the 7th for Discovery. It was the first mission after the Challenger disaster.
Crew
Mission Parameters
Mission Highlights
The Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103) lifted off from Pad B,
Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, at 11:37 a.m. EDT on Sept.
29, 1988. Launch of America's return-to-flight mission was delayed
for 1 hour and 38 minutes because of unseasonable and unusual light
winds aloft, and to replace fuses in the cooling systems of two crew
members' flight suits. The suits were repaired, and a waiver was
issued for the wind conditions after officials determined there was a
sufficient safety margin for wind loads on the orbiter wing leading
edges. The 26th Shuttle flight was the seventh for Discovery.
The primary payload for the STS-26 mission, a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), was successfully deployed, and 11 scheduled
middeck scientific and technological experiments were carried out.
The orbiter sustained only minor Thermal Protection System tile
damage and the redesigned solid rocket boosters showed no signs of
leakage or overheating at any of the joints.
Two minor problems occurred during the flight. After ascent, the
Flash Evaporator System for cooling the orbiter iced up and shut
down, increasing the crew cabin temperature to approximately 87
degrees Fahrenheit. The problem was resolved on Flight Day 4 and
cooler temperatures resulted. A Ku-band antenna for communications
was successfully deployed on Flight Day 2, but it failed to respond
properly and had to be stowed for the remainder of the mission.
Besides conducting the various experiments, crew members
practiced suiting up in new partial-pressure, or launch-and-entry,
flight suits, and unstowing and attaching the new crew escape system.
On Oct. 2, the day before the mission ended, the five-man crew paid a
moving tribute to the 51-L Challenger crew.
Discovery landed on Runway 17, Edwards AFB, CA, at 12:37 p.m.
EDT on Oct. 3. Mission duration was 4 days and 1 hour. Capsule
Communicator Blaine Hammond Jr. welcomed the crew, saying it was "a
great ending to a new beginning."
Crew. Crew members, all veteran astronauts, were Commander Frederick
H. "Rick" Hauck, Pilot Richard O. Covey, and Mission Specialists John
M. "Mike" Lounge, George D. "Pinky" Nelson and David C. Hilmers.
Payloads and Experiments. TDRS-C, which became TDRS-3 in orbit, and
its attached Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), were deployed from
Discovery's cargo bay 6 hours, 13 minutes, into the flight. The first
stage of the IUS placed TDRS-3 in a transfer orbit, and the IUS
second stage placed the vehicle in geosynchronous orbit on Sept. 30.
TDRS-3, the second operational Tracking and Data Relay Satellite,
moved into position over the Pacific Ocean south of Hawaii at 171
degrees west longitude. It joined TDRS-1 in tracking Earth-orbiting
spacecraft. TDRS-B was lost in the Challenger accident. Also in the
payload bay was the Orbiter Experiments Autonomous Supporting
Instrumentation System (OASIS). OASIS recorded environmental data on
the orbiter and the TDRS payload during various inflight phases.
All the middeck experiments were deemed to have operated or
performed successfully. But there were some glitches with two of the
five experiments that involved materials science. In the Protein
Crystal Growth experiment, two of the 11 proteins processed did not
produce crystals suitable for analysis. That includes a key enzyme in
the replication of the Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) virus.
Also, there were some equipment problems with the Automatic
Directional Solidification Furnace, an experiment to investigate the
melting and solidification of various materials.
The materials processing experiments included two Shuttle
Student Involvement Projects, one on titanium grain formation and the
other on controlling crystal growth with a membrane. Another
materials science experiment, the Physical Vapor Transport of Organic
Solids, was a joint project of NASA's Office of Commercial Programs
and the 3M Company.
Three experiments were in life sciences, including one on the
Aggregration of Red Blood Cells, which will help to determine if
microgravity can play a beneficial role in clinical research and
medical diagnostic tests. Two experiments involved atmospheric
sciences and one was in communications research.
Primary payload, NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-3 (TDRS-3) attached to an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), became second TDRS deployed. After deployment, IUS propelled satellite to geosynchronous orbit. Secondary payloads: Physical Vapor Transport of Organic Solids (PVTOS); Protein Crystal Growth (PCG); Infrared Communications Flight Experiment (IRCFE); Aggregation of Red Blood Cells (ARC); Isoelectric Focusing Experiment (IFE); Mesoscale Lightning Experiment (MLE); Phase Partitioning Experiment (PPE); Earth-Limb Radiance Experiment (ELRAD); Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF) and two Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments. Orbiter Experiments Autonomous Supporting Instrumentation System-I (OASIS-I) recorded variety of environmental measurements during various inflight phases of orbiter. Ku-band antenna in payload bay deployed; however, dish antenna command and actual telemetry did not correspond. Also, orbiter cabin Flash Evaporator System iced up, raising crew cabin temperature to mid-80s.
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