 Infrared view ofColumbia's left wing during reentry, photographed by the SILTS experiment. | |
| Names | Space Transportation System-28 STS-28R |
|---|---|
| Mission type | DoD satellites deployment |
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1989-061A |
| SATCATno. | 20164 |
| Mission duration | 5 days, 1 hour, 8 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 3,400,000 km (2,100,000 mi) |
| Orbits completed | 81 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Columbia |
| Landing mass | 90,816 kg (200,215 lb) |
| Payload mass | 19,600 kg (43,200 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 5 |
| Members | |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | August 8, 1989, 12:37:00 (1989-08-08UTC12:37Z) UTC (8:37 am EDT) |
| Launch site | Kennedy,LC-39B |
| Contractor | Rockwell International |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | August 13, 1989, 13:37:08 (1989-08-13UTC13:37:09Z) UTC (6:37:08 am PDT) |
| Landing site | Edwards, Runway 17 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 289 km (180 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 306 km (190 mi) |
| Inclination | 57.00° |
| Period | 90.50 minutes |
| Instruments | |
| |
 STS-28 mission patch  Standing:Brown andAdamson Seated:Richards,Shaw andLeestma | |
STS-28 was the 30thNASASpace Shuttle mission, the fourth shuttle mission dedicated toUnited States Department of Defense (DoD) purposes, and the eighth flight ofSpace ShuttleColumbia. The mission launched on August 8, 1989, and traveled 3,400,000 km (2,100,000 mi) during 81 orbits of theEarth, before landing on runway 17 ofEdwards Air Force Base,California, on August 13, 1989. STS-28 was alsoColumbia's first flight since January 1986, when it had flownSTS-61-C, the mission directly preceding theChallenger disaster ofSTS-51-L. The mission details of STS-28 areclassified, but the payload is widely believed to have been the firstSDS-2 relaycommunications satellite. The altitude of the mission was between 295 km (183 mi) and 307 km (191 mi).[1]
The mission was officially designatedSTS-28R as the original STS-28 designator belonged toSTS-51-J, the 21st Space Shuttle mission. Official documentation for that mission contained the designator STS-28 throughout. AsSTS-51-L was designated STS-33, future flights with theSTS-26 throughSTS-33 designators would require theR in their documentation to avoid conflicts in tracking data from one mission to another.
| Position | Astronaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Brewster H. Shaw Third and last spaceflight | |
| Pilot | Richard N. Richards First spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 1 | James C. Adamson First spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 2 Flight Engineer | David Leestma Second spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 3 | Mark N. Brown First spaceflight | |
| Seat[2] | Launch | Landing |  Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shaw | ||
| 2 | Richards | ||
| 3 | Adamson | Brown | |
| 4 | Leestma | ||
| 5 | Brown | Adamson | |
| 6 | Unused | ||
| 7 | Unused | ||
Space ShuttleColumbia (OV-102) lifted off from Pad 39B, Launch Complex 39 atKennedy Space Center,Florida, on August 8, 1989. The launch took place at 8:37:00 a.m.EDT.
During STS-28,Columbia deployed two satellites:USA-40[3] andUSA-41.[4] Early reports speculated that STS-28's primary payload was an AdvancedKH-11 photo-reconnaissance satellite. Later reports, and amateur satellite observations, suggest that USA-40 was instead a second-generationSatellite Data System (SDS) relay,[5] similar to those likely launched onSTS-38 andSTS-53. These satellites had the same bus design as theLEASAT satellites deployed on other shuttle missions, and were likely deployed in the same fashion.[citation needed]
The mission marked the first flight of a 5 kg (11 lb)human skull, which served as the primary element of "Detailed Secondary Objective 469", also known as the In-flight Radiation Dose Distribution (IDRD) experiment. This joint NASA/DoD experiment was designed to examine the penetration ofradiation into the human cranium during spaceflight. The female skull was seated in a plastic matrix, representative of tissue, and sliced into ten layers. Hundreds ofthermoluminescentdosimeters were mounted in the skull's layers to record radiation levels at multiple depths. This experiment, which also flew onSTS-36 andSTS-31, was located in the shuttle's mid-deck lockers on all three flights, recording radiation levels at differentorbital inclinations.[6]
During the flight, the crew shut down a thruster in thereaction control system (RCS) after receiving indications of a leak. An RCS heater also malfunctioned during the flight. Post-flight analysis of STS-28 discovered unusual heating of thethermal protection system (TPS) during re-entry, caused by an early transition to turbulentplasma flow around the vehicle. A detailed report identified protruding gap filler as the likely cause.[7] This filler material was the same material that was removed during aspacewalk duringSTS-114, the Space Shuttle's post-Columbia disaster Return to Flight mission, in 2005.
The Shuttle Lee-side Temperature Sensing (SILTS)infrared camera package made its second flight aboardColumbia on this mission. The cylindrical pod and surrounding black tiles on the orbiter's vertical stabilizer housed an imaging system, designed to map thermodynamic conditions during reentry, on the surfaces visible from the top of the tail fin. The SILTS system was used for only six missions before being deactivated, but the pod remained for the duration ofColumbia's career.[8]Columbia's thermal protection system was also upgraded to a similar configuration asDiscovery andAtlantis in between the loss ofChallenger and STS-28, with many of the white LRSI tiles replaced with felt insulation blankets in order to reduce weight and turnaround time. One other minor modification that debuted on STS-28 was the move ofColumbia's name from its payload bay doors to the fuselage, allowing the orbiter to be easily recognized while in orbit.
Columbia landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, at 9:37:08 a.m. EDT on August 13, 1989, after a mission lasting 5 days, 1 hour and 8 seconds. Because of a software glitch with the weight-on-wheels sensors installed on the landing gear, the crew was instructed to touch down on the runway as softly as possible. This instruction resulted in a touchdown airspeed of 154 knots (285 km/h; 177 mph), the slowest of the entire Shuttle program by a wide margin and barely above the Orbiter's stall speed.[9]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.Space ShuttleColumbia (OV-102) | ||
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