STS-33

Infobox Space mission
mission_name = STS-33
insignia = Sts-33-patch.png shuttle = Discovery
launch_pad = 39-B
launch = November 22, 1989, 7:23:30 p.m. EST
landing = November 27, 1989, 4:30:16 p.m. PST, EAFB, Runway 4
duration = 5/00:06:49
altitude = 302 nautical miles (559 km)
inclination = 28.45 degrees
orbits = 79
distance = 2,100,000 miles (3 400 000 km)
crew_photo = STS-33_crew.jpg
crew_caption =
previous = STS-34
next = STS-32

STS-33 was the fifth space shuttle mission for the Department of Defense. Due to the nature of this mission, specific details are classified. The Space Shuttle "Discovery" lifted off from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, KSC, on 22 November 1989 at 7:23 p.m. EST.

Crew

"(total flights to date in parentheses)"

* Frederick D. Gregory (2), Commander
* John E. Blaha (2), Pilot
* F. Story Musgrave (3), Mission Specialist 1
* Manley L Carter, Jr.(1), Mission Specialist 2
* Kathryn C. Thornton (1), Mission Specialist 3

Crew Notes

S. David Griggs, the originally scheduled pilot for this mission, died in a plane crash 5 months prior to the shuttle launch.

Mission parameters

*Mass:
**"Payload:" Magnum ELINT satellite ~ 3000 kg
**"Booster:" IUS upper stage ~ 18 000 kg
*Perigee: 207 km
*Apogee: 214 km
*Inclination: 28.5°
*Period: 88.7 min

Mission highlights

Launch of STS-33 was originally scheduled for 20 November, 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.

Discovery deployed a single satellite, USA-48 (NSSDC ID 1989-090B). According to Aviation Week, this was a secret Magnum ELINT (ELectronic INTtelligence) gathering satellite headed for geosynchronous orbit, like those 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 November 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.

ee also

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

External links

* [http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-33/mission-sts-33.html NASA mission summary]
* [http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle32.htm STS-33 Video Highlights]