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STS-36

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For the fossil, see STS 71.

STS-36
Launch of Atlantis; in-flight photography on this Department of Defense (DoD) mission is limited.
NamesSpace Transportation System-36
STS-36
Mission typeDoD satellite deployment
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1990-019A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.20512Edit this on Wikidata
Mission duration4 days, 10 hours, 18 minutes, 22 seconds
Distance travelled2,957,913 km (1,837,962 mi)
Orbits completed72
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSpace Shuttle Atlantis
Launch mass2,044,469 kg (4,507,283 lb)
Landing mass84,912 kg (187,199 lb)
Payload mass19,600 kg (43,200 lb)
Crew
Crew size5
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateFebruary 28, 1990, 07:50:22 (February 28, 1990, 07:50:22) UTC (2:50:22 am EST)
Launch siteKennedy, LC-39A
ContractorRockwell International
End of mission
Landing dateMarch 4, 1990, 18:08:44 (March 4, 1990, 18:08:44) UTC (10:08:44 am PST)
Landing siteEdwards, Runway 23
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Perigee altitude198 km (123 mi)
Apogee altitude204 km (127 mi)
Inclination62°
Period88.5 minutes
Instruments
In-flight Radiation Dose Distribution (IDRD)

STS-36 mission patch

From left: Thuot, Casper, Creighton, Mullane and Hilmers
← STS-32 (33)
STS-31 (35) →

STS-36 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Atlantis carried a classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) (believed to have been a Misty reconnaissance satellite) into orbit. STS-36 was the 34th shuttle mission overall, the sixth flight for Atlantis, and the fourth night launch of the shuttle program. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 28, 1990, and landed on March 4, 1990.

Crew

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Position Astronaut
Commander John Oliver Creighton
Second spaceflight
Pilot John Casper
First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1 Pierre J. Thuot
First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2
Flight Engineer 		David C. Hilmers
Third spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3 Mike Mullane
Third and last spaceflight

Crew seat assignments

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Seat[1] Launch Landing
Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.
Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
1 Creighton
2 Casper
3 Thuot Mullane
4 Hilmers
5 Mullane Thuot
6 Unused
7 Unused

Mission summary

[edit]
Space Shuttle Atlantis is prepared for launch on January 25, 1990.
Attempt Planned Result Turnaround Reason Decision point Weather go (%) Notes
1 22 Feb 1990, 1:00:00 am Scrubbed — Medical 50 Commander Creighton was experiencing a minor respiratory infection. Due to the classified nature of the mission, NASA did not give the exact launch time until nine minutes before liftoff.[2]
2 23 Feb 1990, 12:00:00 am Scrubbed 0 days 22 hours 60 minutes Weather 20 The weather conditions were unacceptable for launch. In addition, Commander Creighton was still unwell.
3 24 Feb 1990, 12:00:00 am Scrubbed 1 day 0 hours 0 minutes Weather Creighton had recovered at this time, however, a storm front had moved into the KSC area.[3]
4 25 Feb 1990, 12:00:00 am Scrubbed 1 day 0 hours 0 minutes Technical 25 Feb 1990, 1:05 am ​(T−00:00:31) A range safety backup computer malfunctioned at T−00:01:55. The countdown clock was held at T−31 seconds to assess the situation, however, the Liquid Oxygen temperature inside the main engines exceeded launch commit criteria. A general purpose computer also malfunctioned.[4]: 1–2 
5 26 Feb 1990, 12:54:00 am Scrubbed 1 day 0 hours 54 minutes Weather 26 Feb 1990, 2:30 am ​(T−00:09:00 hold) Clouds were present at the Shuttle Landing Facility. A 48-hour turnaround was issued to allow the crew to rest.[4]: 2 
6 28 Feb 1990, 2:50:22 am Success 2 days 1 hour 56 minutes The countdown was held at T−5 minutes to assess RTLS and TAL weather.[4]: 2 

Atlantis launched on the STS-36 mission on February 28, 1990, at 07:50:22 UTC (2:50:22 am EST, local time at the launch site).[5] The launch was originally set for February 22, 1990, but was postponed repeatedly due to the illness of the crew commander and poor weather conditions.[3] This was the first time since Apollo 13 in 1970 that a crewed space mission was affected by the illness of a crew member.[2] The first rescheduled launch attempt, set for February 25, 1990, was scrubbed at T−31 seconds due to a range safety computer malfunction.[4]: 1–2 [6][7][8][page needed] Another attempt, set for February 26, 1990, was scrubbed during the T−9 minute hold due to weather conditions.[4]: 2 [9][10] The successful launch on February 28, 1990, was set for a classified launch window, lying within a launch period extending from 00:00 to 04:00 EST. The launch weight for this mission was classified.

The launch trajectory was unique to this flight and allowed the mission to reach an orbital inclination of 62°, the deployment orbit of its payload — the normal maximum inclination for a shuttle flight was 57°. This so-called "dog-leg" trajectory saw Atlantis fly downrange on a normal launch azimuth and then maneuver to a higher launch azimuth once out over the water. Although the maneuver resulted in a reduction of vehicle performance, it was the only way to reach the required deployment orbit from Kennedy Space Center (originally, the flight had been slated to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, until the shuttle launch program there was cancelled). The payload was considered to be of importance to national security, leading normal flight rules to be suspended, allowing the shuttle to fly over or near Cape Hatteras, Cape Cod, and parts of Canada.

As a Department of Defense operation, STS-36's payload remains officially classified. STS-36 launched a single satellite,[11] also described as AFP-731. Other objects (1990-019C-G) reportedly appeared in orbit following its deployment.

It was reported that USA-53 was an Advanced KH-11 photo-reconnaissance satellite, using an all-digital imaging system to return pictures. KH-11 satellites are believed to resemble the Hubble Space Telescope in size and shape, as the satellites were shipped in similar containers and had comparable primary mirror diameters.[12] USA-53, nicknamed "Misty", was tracked briefly by amateur satellite observers in October and November 1990.[13]

The mission marked another flight of an 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 Experiment" (IDRD). This joint NASA/DoD experiment was designed to examine the penetration of radiation into the human cranium during spaceflight. The female skull was seated in a plastic matrix, representative of tissue, and sliced into ten layers. Hundreds of thermo-luminescent dosimeters were mounted in the skull's layers to record radiation levels at multiple depths. This experiment, which also flew on STS-28 and STS-31, was located in the shuttle's mid-deck lockers on all three flights, recording radiation levels at different orbital inclinations.[14]

Atlantis landed at 18:08:44 UTC (10:08:44 am PST, local time at the landing site) on March 4, 1990, at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on runway 23 ending the STS-36. The orbiter's rollout distance was 2.41 km (1.50 mi; 1.30 nmi).[15] Atlantis was towed to the Mate-Demate Device by around 15:00 PST.

About 62 impacts in the shuttle's Thermal Protection System (TPS) tiles were counted by the debris team after the mission. Tile engineers reported that only one tile required replacement. The brakes and tires performed nominally. Drops of hydraulic fluid were observed in the right main landing gear wheel well, the liquid hydrogen 43 cm (17 in) disconnect cavity and possibly around two of the main engines.[16][17]

Mission insignia

[edit]

The thirty-six stars on the insignia symbolize the flight's numerical designation in the Space Transportation System's mission sequence; the stars also form part of a stylized American flag, forming the background to an image of a bald eagle, the American national bird.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "STS-36". spacefacts.de. Archived from the original on March 3, 2024. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Shuttle launch delayed until health, weather better". Bowling Green Daily News. February 22, 1990. p. 8B. Retrieved August 31, 2024 – via Google News.
  3. ^ a b Recer, Paul (February 24, 1990). "Weather keeps shuttle on ground". The Free Lance-Star. Vol. 106, no. 47. p. 16. Retrieved September 20, 2024 – via Google News.
  4. ^ a b c d e Mechelay, Joseph E.; Germany, D. M.; Nicholson, Leonard S. (April 1, 1990). STS-36 Space Shuttle mission report (PDF) (Technical report). NASA. hdl:2060/19920007756. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 31, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  5. ^ Recer, Paul (February 28, 1990). "At last, shuttle goes up". The Free Lance-Star. Vol. 106, no. 50. pp. 1, 16. Retrieved October 12, 2024 – via Google News.
  6. ^ Sawyer, Kathy (February 25, 2024). "COMPUTER GLITCH SCRUBS SHUTTLE LAUNCH SECONDS FROM LIFTOFF". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  7. ^ Healy, Melissa (February 25, 1990). "Shuttle Flight Called Off Just Before Launch". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  8. ^ Mullane, Mike (2006). Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut. New York City, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 978-0743296762.
  9. ^ Recer, Paul (February 26, 1990). "Shuttle launch postponed for the fifth time". The Free Lance-Star. p. 6. Retrieved September 20, 2024 – via Google News.
  10. ^ Sawyer, Kathy (February 26, 1990). "WINDS, CLOUDS SCRUB LIFTOFF OF SPACE SHUTTLE AGAIN". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  11. ^ "AFP-675". NSSDCA Master Catalog. NASA. January 7, 2022. 1990-019B. Archived from the original on May 23, 2024. Retrieved February 6, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  12. ^ "Chapter XII – The Hubble Space Telescope" (PDF). June 12, 2003. p. 483. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2003. Retrieved February 6, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  13. ^ "The Saga of USA 53 - Found, Lost, Found Again and Lost Again". FAS.org. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  14. ^ Macknight, Nigel, ed. (1990). Space year 1991: the complete record of the year's space events. Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks International. ISBN 0-87938-482-4. OCLC 23658738. OL 11177264M.
  15. ^ Dumoulin, Jim. "STS-36". NASA. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2011. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  16. ^ Stevenson, Charles G.; Katnik, Gregory N.; Higginbotham, Scott A. (April 1, 1990). Debris/ice/TPS assessment and photographic analysis for Shuttle Mission STS-36 (PDF) (Technical report). NASA. hdl:2060/19900013267. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 27, 2024. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  17. ^ Hill, William C.; Finkel, Seymour I. (June 15, 1990). Mission Safety Evaluation Report for STS-36, Postflight Edition (PDF) (Technical report). NASA. hdl:2060/19920014001. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 31, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
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