![]() ![]() The retrieval of LDEF was filmed with an IMAX camera, and appeared in the IMAX film Destiny in Space in 1994. An orbiter kit was developed to allow the shuttle to operate for up to 16 days in Earth orbit, and would later make its debut on Columbia 's STS-50 mission in 1992. STS-32 set a new shuttle duration record of nearly eleven days. NASA had planned to acquire data on the crew members' exposure to long periods of zero gravity, and its effects on the crew's performance while landing the orbiter after an extended mission. The 12-sided cylinder, about the size of a small satellite bus, was then berthed in the orbiter's payload bay for return to Earth. The crew performed a 4 1⁄ 2-hour photographic survey of the free-flying structure, which held 57 science, technology and applications experiments. It was flown on a 352 km (219 mi) orbit inclined 28.45° to the equator. Thus, the mission's exact liftoff time was determined about 12 hours before launch, using the latest tracking data on LDEF. Specialists who carefully monitored the stability of the craft's orbit had anticipated that if the LDEF was not retrieved in time, it would pass too low for the shuttle to safely reach, and could be destroyed during re-entry in February 1990. The timeliness of the retrieval was of critical importance, because a high rate of solar flux had increased the density of the LDEF's orbital environment and accelerated its rate of orbital decay. Dunbar retrieved the LDEF on the fourth day of the flight using the shuttle's Remote Manipulator System ( Canadarm). Syncom IV-F5 (Leasat-5) was deployed on the second flight day, and a third-stage Minuteman solid apogee kick motor propelled it into a geosynchronous orbit. The primary objectives of the mission were to deploy the Syncom IV-F5 military communications satellite (also known as Leasat 5), and to retrieve NASA's Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), whose retrieval had been delayed for 4 1⁄ 2 years by scheduling changes and the Challenger disaster of 1986. Columbia had a mission launch weight of 116,117 kg (255,994 lb) The second scheduled launch, on January 8, 1990, was aborted due to weather conditions. The launch was initially scheduled for December 18, 1989, but was later postponed to allow the modifications to Pad A to be completed and verified. STS-32 launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, on January 9, 1990, at 7:35:00 a.m. ![]() Space Shuttle Columbia, returning to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) after the successful STS-32 mission, flies past the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, secured atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Mission summary The launch of STS-32 from LC-39A The Syncom IV-F5 satellite is deployed. These modifications included the removal of the umbilical tower, the reconfiguring of three exhaust holes, and amendments to the electrical and mechanical ground support systems. MLP-3, the oldest of the three Apollo-era launch structures, also underwent extensive remodeling for use with the shuttle. NASA made improvements to the crew emergency egress system and the shuttle payload room, increased anti-freeze protection for the water systems, installed debris traps used during propellant loading, and added more weather protection features and an umbilical to provide power, instrumentation and controls to the heaters for the solid rocket booster (SRB) field joints. Launch Complex 39A was modified extensively in preparation for the launch, with STS-32 being the first launch from the refurbished pad since STS-61-C in 1986. Crew PositionĬrew seating arrangements Seat Flights with the STS-26 through STS-33 designators used the R in their documentation to avoid conflicts in tracking data from one mission to another. Official documentation and flight paperwork for that mission had contained the designator STS-32 throughout. ![]() The mission was technically designated STS-32R, as the original STS-32 designator had been used internally for STS-61-C, the 24th Space Shuttle mission. STS-32 was also the first Shuttle mission of the 1990s. On January 20, 1990, STS-32 executed the third night landing of the shuttle program. Before STS-32, the only mission of the same duration had been STS-9 in 1983. ![]() STS-32 was, at the time, the longest shuttle mission yet conducted, with a duration of nearly 11 days. Launched on January 9, 1990, it marked the first use of the Launch Complex 39A of Kennedy Space Center at since 1986 it also marked the first use of Mobile Launcher Platform-3 (MLP-3) in the Space Shuttle program. STS-32 was the 33rd mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the ninth launch of Space Shuttle Columbia. ![]()
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