On January 9, 1990, Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on its ninth flight, STS-32. The five-person crew of Commander Daniel Brandenstein, pilot James Weatherby, and mission specialists Bonnie Dunbar, Marcia Ivins, and David Roe set a record at the time for deploying the Syncom IV-F5 communications satellite to the U.S. Navy and Navy. It flew a devastating 11-day mission. Get the Long-Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). Astronauts aboard the Shuttle mission in 1984 deployed LDEF, and scientists are eagerly awaiting its return for 57 experiments to study the effects of nearly six years of exposure to the low-Earth orbit environment. Ta. The crew also conducted several mid-deck experiments on biotechnology and materials processing, and used an echocardiogram to study changes in the heart.
In November 1988, NASA announced Brandenstein, Weatherby, Dunbar, Ivins, and Lowe as crew members for STS-32, which was subsequently planned in November 1989. Brandenstein, a 1978 graduate, has flown twice as an STS-8 pilot. He assumed command of STS-51G in August-September 1983 and assumed command of STS-51G in June 1985. Selected in 1980, Dunbar previously flew once in STS-61A from October to November 1985. STS-32 was the first spaceflight for Weatherby, Ivins, and Law, who were selected in 1984. On the second day of the planned 10-day mission, the astronauts were to deploy Syncom IV-F5 (also known as Leesat 5), a U.S. Navy communications satellite. The primary focus of this flight involved the recovery of the LDEF deployed by the STS-41C crew in April 1984. The original plan was for the LDEF, containing 57 scientific and technological experiments, to be recovered by the STS-51D crew in February 1985. The Shuttle program was first scheduled to recover STS-61I in September 1986, but was later postponed to STS-32 due to the Challenger disaster. The facility ended up remaining in orbit for nearly six years instead of the 10 months originally planned. The crew concluded the mission by conducting a series of scientific and medical experiments on middeck.
After STS-28 landed at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California, Columbia returned to KSC on August 21, 1989, and crews towed the aircraft to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) the next day. They made 26 modifications to the orbiter, including installing a remote manipulator system (RMS), or robotic arm, and five sets of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks to extend flight time in space. The rollover to a nearby vehicle assembly building took place on November 16, and the Columbia will be refurbished from mobile launch pad No. 3, a refurbished mobile launch pad last used in 1975, with an external tank and two solid rocket boosters (SRBs). combined. The rollout took place on the launch pad on November 28th. The 39A has been newly refurbished since its last release in 1986.
On December 1, engineers and astronauts completed a terminal countdown demonstration test, a rehearsal for the launch scheduled for December 18. Based on that date and the mission’s planned 10-day duration, the STS-32 crew will spend Christmas in space, becoming the third American crew member and first space shuttle crew member to do so. It was just that. However, the launch was delayed to January 1990 due to unfinished work on Pad 39A. Orbital experts estimated that orbital decay would cause LDEF to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere by March 1990. Therefore, a timely launch remained critical to mission success. The countdown for the planned launch on January 8th began on January 4th, and the crew arrived at KSC on January 5th.
The first launch on January 8 was met with cloudy skies. The launch took place the next day at 7:35 a.m. ET from launch pad 39A, with LDEF 1,500 miles ahead of Columbia. The powered flight into space took 8.5 minutes and sent Columbia into a 215-by-38-mile orbit. After 40 minutes, the two Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) engines fired and the orbit was altered to the desired altitude of 222 x 180 miles. The crew opened the shuttle’s payload bay door and deployed the radiator. Major activities on the first day in space included RMS checkout and the first rendezvous operation in preparation for the LDEF grapple three days later. The astronauts also activated four of the middeck experiments. On the second day of the mission, Lowe deployed the 15,000-pound Syncom satellite, ejecting it from the payload bay with a Frisbee motion. The satellite extended and stabilized its antenna and fired its engines for the first time 40 minutes after deployment, sending it into geostationary orbit.
After Syncom’s deployment, the crew turned their attention to rendezvous with LDEF, while also continuing mid-deck experiments. On the third day of flight, they completed three rendezvous burns while continuing to steadily approach LDEF. Shortly after waking up on the fourth day of the flight, the astronauts discovered LDEF appearing as a bright star. After the first of four rendezvous burns, Columbia’s radar picked up the satellite. As they continued their approach and received three more successful burns, Dunbar activated RMS for the next fight. Brandenstein assumed manual control of Columbia for final approach, parking the shuttle close enough to the LDEF for Dunbar to extend a 50-foot arm and grab onto the satellite. Brandenstein reported, “We have LDEF.”
For the next four hours, with Weatherby flying the orbiter and Dunbar manning the arm, Ivins conducted a comprehensive photographic survey of LDEF, documenting the effects of nearly six years of space exposure on various experiments. did. Once the survey was complete, Dunbar slowly and carefully lowered the LDEF into the payload bay and secured it in place with five latches for return to Earth. With the mission’s two main goals completed, the astronauts began the remaining science experiments of the 10-day mission.
During the mission, the STS-32 crew conducted several experiments on the middeck. The protein crystal growth experiment used vapor diffusion to grow 120 crystals of 24 different proteins for study by scientists upon their return to Earth. Characterizing Neurospora crassa A circadian rhythm experiment investigated whether spaceflight affects the daily cycle of pink bread mold. The fluid experiment equipment was used to conduct material processing research in a microgravity environment. The astronauts used American Flight Echocardiography (AFE) to study changes in the heart caused by weightlessness. The crew used large-format IMAX cameras to film scenes inside the cabin as well as scenes through the windows, including LDEF captures.
On January 17, Brandenstein celebrated his 47th birthday, becoming the fifth American astronaut to go into space. His crew gave him an inflatable plastic cake with candles in it, and air traffic controllers extended birthday wishes, as did his wife and teenage daughter. On the same day, NASA announced the selection of the 13th astronaut group. They include Dunbar’s husband, engineer Ronald Sega, Eileen Collins, the first female shuttle pilot, and Ellen Ochoa, the first female Hispanic astronaut.
On January 19, the astronauts woke up for their last scheduled day in space. However, due to fog at the landing site, Edwards Air Force Base in California, controllers initially advised the plane that it would have to spend an extra orbit in space and ultimately decided to delay the landing by a full day. Preparations for the experiment had already been completed, and the crew spent a quiet day gazing at the Earth and using up any remaining film. As they slept that night, they surpassed the Space Shuttle’s longest mission record, set by STS-9 in 1983.
In preparation for re-entry, the astronauts donned orange spacesuits and closed the payload bay door. A last-minute computer problem delayed reentry by one orbit, so Brandenstein and Weatherby guided Columbia into a deorbit attitude and pointed the OMS engines in the direction of travel. The two engines fired for 2 minutes and 48 seconds over the Indian Ocean, knocking the spacecraft out of orbit. They reoriented the orbiter to fly with its heat shield exposed in the direction of flight as it encountered Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 419,000 feet. A build-up of ionized gases produced by the heat of atmospheric reentry disrupted communications for about 15 minutes, but it provided a spectacular light show for the astronauts. After completing the heading alignment circle, Brandenstein aligned the Columbia with the runway and Weatherby lowered the landing gear. Columbia touched down, spun to a stop, and touched down on the third night of the Shuttle mission, circling the Earth 172 times and ending its 10-day, 21-hour, 1-minute flight, the longest Shuttle flight to that point. did.
Other records set by astronauts on this mission included Brandenstein becoming the new record holder for the longest time in space by a shuttle crew member (24 days), and Dunbar becoming the new record holder for the longest time in space by a shuttle crew (24 days); (18 days). . After an eight-hour post-flight medical exam, the astronauts boarded a jet for Ellington Field in Houston, where they were reunited with their families and participated in a welcome ceremony led by Aaron Cohen, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
After a post-landing inspection, crews loaded the Columbia, with the LDEF in its payload bay, onto a modified Boeing 747 shuttle transport plane, and the combination departed from Edwards on January 25. After a refueling stop at Montsan Davis Air Force Base in Tucson, the aircraft stayed overnight at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, before refueling at Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and Eglin Air Force Base, Columbia. LDEF returned to KSC on January 26th. The next day, crews towed the Columbia to the OPF, and on January 30, pulled the LDEF from the payload bay. This is in preparation for a detailed study of the effects of a six-year stay in space on the universe. 57 experiments were conducted. Meanwhile, workers began preparations for Columbia Airlines’ next flight, STS-35, in December 1990.
Enjoy video narration of the STS-32 mission by the crew. Read Brandenstein and Dunbar’s recollections of the STS-32 mission in oral history in the JSC History Room. Enjoy this video for an overview of the LDEF project. For more information on the results of the LDEF experiment, please refer to this link.
