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Mission: | STS-33 |
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| Launch pad: | 39-B |
| Launch: | November 22 , 1989 ,7:23:30 p.m. EST. |
| Landing: | November 27 , 1989 ,4:30:16 p.m. PST, Runway 4, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. |
| Duration: | 5 days, 0 hours, 6 minutes, 49 seconds. |
| Orbit altitude: | 302 nautical miles (559 km) |
| Orbit inclination: | 28.45 degrees |
| Distance traveled: | 2,100,000 miles (3 400 000 km) |
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STS-34 |
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STS-32 |
- Frederick D. Gregory (flew on '' STS-51-B '', ''STS-33'' & '' STS-44 ''), Commander
- John E. Blaha (flew on '' STS-29 '', ''STS-33'', '' STS-43 '', '' STS-58 '' & '' Mir NASA-2 ''), Pilot
- F. Story Musgrave (flew on '' STS-6 '', '' STS-51-F '', ''STS-33'', '' STS-44 '', '' STS-61 '' & '' STS-80 ''), Mission Specialist 1
- Manley L Carter, Jr. (flew on ''STS-33''), Mission Specialist 2
- Kathryn C. Thornton (flew on ''STS-33'', '' STS-49 '', '' STS-61 '' & '' STS-73 ''), Mission Specialist 3
- ---''Payload:'' Magnum ELINT satellite ~ 3000 kg
- ---''Booster:'' IUS upper stage ~ 18 000 kg
- 207 km
- 214 km
- 28.5°
- 88.7 min
This was the fifth mission for the Department of Defense. Due to the nature of this mission, specific details are Classified. The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted of from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, KSC, on Nov. 22, 1989 at 7:23 p.m. EST. Launch was originally scheduled Nov. 20, but was delayed because of suspect Integrated Electronics Assemblies which control ignition and separation of the Shuttle's solid rocket boosters. It was the ninth flight of Discovery and the 32nd Space Shuttle mission. STS-33 was the third night launch of the Space Shuttle program, and the first since Shuttle flights resumed in 1988. Landing was scheduled Nov. 26, but was postponed for a day because of strong winds at the landing site.
According to Aviation Week, STS 33 launched a secret,
Magnum ELINT (ELectronic INTtelligence) gathering satellite into geo-synchronous orbit. An identical one was also launched by STS-51-C and STS-38.
Also according to Aviation Week, the shuttle initially enters a 204 km x 519 km orbit at an inclination of 28.45 deg to the equator. It then executes three OMS (orbital manoeuvering system) burns, the last on orbit #4. The first burn is to circularize the orbit at 519 km.
The satellite was deployed on the 7th orbit and then ignited its IUS rocket at the ascending node of the 8th orbit, to place it in a geo-synchronous transfer orbit.
The classified payload was deployed successfully and boosted into its operating orbit by an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster according to an Air Force announcement.
Discovery landed on a concrete runway at Edwards AFB, CA, on Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m. EST, after a mission duration of 5 days, 0 hours and 6 minutes.
Note: STS-33 was the original designation for the mission that became STS:51-L, Challenger's last flight that ended in tragedy. After the disaster, NASA recycled the numbering system back to STS-26, which was the 26th shuttle mission and first after Challenger. There is no connection between Challenger's STS-33 and this STS-33.
