STS-32

Mission parameters

Mission highlights

The crew of STS-32 deployed the SYNCOM IV-F5 defense communications satellite and retrieved NASA's Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). They deployed SYNCOM IV-F5 (also known as LEASAT 5) first; a third stage Minuteman solid perigee kick motor propelled the satellite to geosynchronous orbit. The crew retrieved LDEF on flight day four using the remote manipulator system.

Retrieval of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) and deployment of the SYNCOM IV-5 geosynchronous communications satellite
are the primary objectives of the STS-32 mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.

The mission will mark the first time Pad A at Kennedy Space Center's Complex 39 has been used for a launch since the 61-C mission
on Jan. 12, 1986. It also will be the first use of Mobile Launcher Platform No. 3 (MLP-3) in the Shuttle program.

STS-32 will be the ninth flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and the 33rd Shuttle mission. It is planned as one of the longest Space Shuttle missions—10 days. There has been only one other mission of that duration. STS-9 in 1983, the first Spacelab mission, also was a 10-day mission on Columbia.

NASA planned the extended mission to acquire data on the crew members' exposure to long periods of zero gravity and its effects on landing the orbiter. An orbiter kit is being developed to allow the orbiter to operate up to 16 days in Earth orbit.

Commander of the five-member crew is Daniel C. Brandenstein
(Capt., USN), who also commanded STS 51-G in 1985 and piloted STS-8
in 1983. Both of those missions included use of the Canadian-built
remote manipulator system, which also will be employed to retrieve
LDEF. James D. Wetherbee (Lt. Cmdr., USN) will be the pilot on
STS-32, his maiden Shuttle flight. Also making their first flights
are mission specialists Marsha S. Ivins and G. David Low. The third
mission specialist, Bonnie J. Dunbar (Ph.D), will make her second
flight; she was also a mission specialist on STS 61-A in 1985.

Dunbar will operate the robot arm to retrieve LDEF while Ivins
will photograph the free-flying structure which holds 57 science,
technology and applications experiments. The 12-sided cylinder, about
the size of a small bus, will then be berthed in the orbiter's
payload bay for return to Earth.

LDEF was originally intended to remain in space for approximately a year after it was deployed April 7, 1984 on STS-41C and placed in a near-circular Earth orbit with an apogee of 298 statute miles (480 km, 259 n mi) and a perigee of 295 statute miles (475 km, 256 n mi). Scheduling changes and then the 51-L accident delayed the retrieval.

More than 5 1/2 years later, LDEF is a valuable repository of
technical and scientific data.

The timeliness of the retrieval is of critical importance. A
high rate of solar flux has increased the density of LDEF's orbital
environment and accelerated its rate of orbital decay. Specialists
have carefully monitored the stability of the craft's orbit, and now
anticipate that it could fall back into Earth's gravity pull and be
destroyed during re-entry in February 1990.

STS-32 will be the fourth night launch of the Space Shuttle
program, and the second since Shuttle flights resumed in 1988. The
exact liftoff time will be determined about 12 hours before launch,
using the latest tracking data on LDEF. The mission will be flown on
a 219-statute-mile (352 km) orbit inclined 28.5 degrees to the equator.

Columbia will be the first mission launched from the newly
refurbished Pad A at Complex 39. Pad A supported the first 24 Shuttle
missions, from STS-1 in April 1981 through 61-C in January 1986. This
will be the first time it has been used since the Shuttle's return to
flight in 1988. Both Pad A and Pad B have been modified during the
past few years.

The modifications included improvements to the crew emergency
egress system and in the payload changeout room, protection against
freezing of the water services, installation of debris traps used
during propellant loading, and the addition of more weather
protection features and an umbilical to provide power,
instrumentation and controls to the heaters for the solid rocket
booster field joints.

MLP-3, the oldest of the three Apollo-era launch structures,
also underwent extensive remodeling for use with the Shuttle. Those
modifications included removal of the umbilical tower, reconfiguring
for three exhaust holes, and changing the electrical and mechanical
ground support systems. MLP-3 supported many historical launches in
the 1960s and 1970s, including the first Apollo launch of the Saturn
V rocket; the first manned lunar orbit, Apollo 8; the first lunar
landing mission, Apollo 11; three manned Skylab launches; and the
Apollo/Soyuz mission.

January 20, 1990, 1:35:37 a.m. PST, Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, CA. Rollout distance: 10,731 feet (3,271 m). Rollout time: 62 seconds. Longest Space Shuttle flight to date. Orbiter returned to KSC Jan. 26, 1990. Landing weight: 228,335 lb (103,571 kg).

Middeck payloads

Related articles

• Space science
• Space shuttle
• List of space shuttle missions
• List of human spaceflights chronologically

  External links

• NASA mission overview
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