The Dream Is Alive: Recreating the Space Shuttle Program

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-51M Challenger Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Carver Paulis (CDR), Sally Castell (PLT), Chelsea Glen (MS1), Georgia Fuentes (MS2), Hezikiah Poole (PS1)

Payload: KSA-030 (CLASSIFIED)

Payload Mass: 6,671 kg

Launch: August 10, 1985 3:34:00

Mission Duration: 2d5h17m12s

Landing: August 13, 1985 2:51:12

Statistics & Milestones: 26th flight of the Space Shuttle Program; 10th flight of Challenger; 6th night launch and 2nd night landing of the Space Shuttle Program; 11th landing at Kerbal Space Center; 3rd dedicated DoD mission. Payload Specialist Hezikiah Poole became one of the first married couple to have both flown in space, as her husband, KSP astronaut Jordon Poole, had flown on STS-41G (and is currently in final training for STS-51N).

Narrative Summary:

Challenger lifted off from KSC in the middle of the night on August 10, 1985, after a two-day delay due to rain. As a classified mission the launch coverage was terminated 5 minutes after launch.

Challenger returned for a night landing at KSC three days later.

Classified Summary:

Spoiler

CLASSIFIED SUMMARY - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

The payload for STS-51M was DSP III-1, a missile warning satellite for the Defense Support Program destined for geosynchronous orbit over the SSSR. This was the first flight of the single-stage IUS-C configuration.

The launch occurred at night, but the orbiter climbed into sunlight near the end of its powered ascent into orbit. Challenger was inserted into an initial -10x195km orbit. The crew completed the orbit insertion burn at MET 14m to insert Challenger into a 73x195km orbit, inclination 2.8 degrees, period 35m04s.

An OMS burn at MET 4h37m lowered the orbit to 73x101km, and a second at MET 4h51m circularized the orbit to 100x103km, period 32m44s.

The crew released the restraints holding DSP III-1 in the payload bay at MET 1d4h48m30s. One orbit later the payload was raised to the 30-degree deployment attitude. Deployment of the payload was delayed several minutes due to oscillations of the payload stack after an orbiter attitude correction maneuver, which was solved by ground controllers turning off the reaction wheels on the payload. The stack was deployed at MET 2d0h03h30s. The single-stage IUS burn placed the payload into a 100x2,784km transfer orbit. They payload thereafter used its own storable-propellant liquid-fuel engine to raise its orbit to its operational geosynchronous perch.

Flight Day 4 was planned as a contingency day in orbit, but the mission managers made the decision to bring Challenger home one day early due to clear weather at KSC on August 13 versus >90% chance of rain for the next three days. The crew completed the reentry burn at MET 2d4h55m. Entry interface occurred at MET 2d5h01m14s. Challenger made a night landing at KSC with wheel stop at 2d5h17m12s.

Next Up: After much preparation, Atlantis is scheduled to launch on its first flight on Sept. 11, carrying another classified payload.

Edited January 10, 2020 by ShuttleHugger
Fixed a couple of typos

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-51N Atlantis Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Linwood Nedved (CDR), Ellis Beitel (PLT), Arlie Holgersen (MS1), Jordon Poole (MS2), Yannick Huff (PS1)

Payload: KSA-031, KSA-032 (CLASSIFIED)

Payload Mass: 5,002 kg

Launch: September 24, 1985 1:30:28 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 3d4h03m14s

Landing: September 27, 1985 5:33:42

Statistics & Milestones: 27th Space Shuttle mission; 1st flight of Atlantis; 16th landing at Edwards Air Force Range; 4th DoD mission. The 12th spacewalk of the Space Shuttle Program occurred on this mission.

Narrative Summary:

Atlantis was fueled and ready for a Flight Readiness Test Firing attempt on Sept. 8, but at T-28 minutes the #5 monopropellant tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, causing the firing attempt to be scrubbed. It took technicians 5 days to replace the tank and clean the effects of the spill. The FRTF was then completed successfully on September 13, with the main engines firing at full thrust for 23 seconds.

After the FRTF launch was originally scheduled for September 17, but nearly a week of solid rain at KSC kept Atlantis grounded. The first launch attempt, on September 22, was scrubbed 35 seconds before liftoff when one of the batteries aboard the payload short-circuited. Swapping out the failed battery took two days.

Atlantis launched on its first flight on the second attempt on September 24, 1985. The shuttle lifted off into the night, and the coverage of the mission was blacked out starting 5 minutes after liftoff.

During the mission Mission Specialists Arlie Holgersen and Jordon Poole conducted a spacewalk.

Atlantis returned to land at Edwards Air Force Range on September 27.

Classified Summary:

Spoiler

CLASSIFIED SUMMARY - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

The payload for this mission was Satellite Data System (SDS) 2C and 2D plus a single-stage IUS, an identical payload to that deployed by STS-41G almost exactly a year earlier. The satellites were destined for a plane shifted 120 degrees from that occupied by SDS 2A and 2B. The third plane is scheduled to be filled by two satellites launching on STS-61F in early 1986.

Two minor failures occurred during ascent. First, at MET 2m13s, one of the high-gain antennas aboard SDS 2D failed, likely due to the extreme environment of launch. Second, at MET 3m18s one of the RCS ports near the aft end of the external tank became stuck open. Neither failure affected the safety of the ascent. Unusually, as the launch occurred not long after sunset, the orbiter launched in darkness, ascended into sunlight, and then flew into darkness again as it accelerated downrange. Atlantis was placed into an initial 26x210km orbit. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 17m to place Atlantis into a 73x211km orbit, inclination 40.6 degrees, period 35m37s. A contingency spacewalk was added to the mission plan on Flight Day 3 in order to replace the failed antenna. At MET 2h01m, as the crew were going to bed, one of them inadvertently hit the switch triggering the severing of the ties holding the payload in place in the payload bay; this incident was unfortunate but not a mission-critical event.

Ground controllers had to turn off the reaction wheels aboard the payload in order to prevent swaying of the payload stack during orbiter maneuvers, much as was seen on STS-51M. At MET 4h27m20s, the batteries aboard the SDS 2D spacecraft bus short-circuited. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 4h44m to lower the orbit to 72x100km, and a second at MET 4h58m to circularize to 99x103km, period 32m42s. At MET 4h58m58s, one of the low-gain antennas aboard SDS 2C failed. The repair of these two failures were added to the spacewalk planned for the next day.

The crew extended the airlock in preparation for the EVA at MET 1d5h04m, and shortly thereafter Arlie Holgersen entered the airlock. Holgersen exited the airlock at MET 1d5h32m00s, followed by Jordon Poole a minute and a half later. Poole proceeded with the antenna repairs, while Holgersen handled the battery repair. They then returned to the airlock. EVA duration was 7m11s for Poole, and 9m27s for Holgersen. Poole conducted his second career EVA one year to the day after his first venture outside, on STS-41G.

At MET 2d4h33m the crew raised the payload into the deployment position in Atlantis’ payload bay. The SDS-2C+2D stack was deployed at MET 2d5h04m00s. The single-stage IUS burn one orbit later placed the two joined SDS satellites into a 99x1,584km transfer orbit. Two and a half minutes after separation from the spent IUS, the two SDS satellites separated from each other. At the first apogee SDS-2C used its onboard thrusters to insert itself into a 1,550x1,613km orbit, period 2h59m35s, inclination 40.4 degrees. After deploying the payload, the crew went to bed an hour early to prepare for getting up early to make the daylight landing opportunity at Edwards Air Force Range the next day. At its second apogee, SDS-2D burned its thrusters to insert itself into a 1,562x1,602km orbit, inclination 40.4 degrees, period 2h59m35s, approximately 180 degrees away from SDS-2C. Upon commissioning, SDS-2C and SDS-2D were renamed KSA-031 and KSA-032, respectively.

The crew awoke an hour early in order to prepare for landing at Edwards during the daylight pass. The crew successfully completed the deorbit burn, and entry interface occurred at MET 3d3h49m24s. Nedved and Beitel brought Atlantis in for a smooth morning landing on the far eastern edge of the Edwards Air Force Range, with wheel stop at MET 3d4h03m14s.

Next Up: The day after Atlantis landed, Discovery was rolled out to Pad 39A. It is scheduled to launch on September 32 on mission STS-51K, carrying the fourth TDRS satellite.

[RealKerbal3x]

@ShuttleHugger I've been following this silently for some time, but haven't yet made a post to say how much I like this

Looking forward to more missions! 

(also, the fact that it's possible to just knock a switch for such a critical function seems like a pretty significant design flaw to me. Something like that should have multiple safety interlocks...get your engineers on it )

Edited January 16, 2020 by RealKerbal3x

[ShuttleHugger]

Thanks for the kind words @RealKerbal3x!

On 1/16/2020 at 12:49 PM, RealKerbal3x said:

(also, the fact that it's possible to just knock a switch for such a critical function seems like a pretty significant design flaw to me. Something like that should have multiple safety interlocks...get your engineers on it )

What really happened, of course, was I accidentally hit spacebar at an inopportune moment The story, though, was inspired by a real life occurrence that I learned about when I was lucky enough to see the Apollo 11 traveling exhibit recently. Apparently while on the lunar surface one of the astronauts' bulky life support backpacks hit a critical switch on a circuit breaker and broke it off; the astronauts had to jury-rig a pen to throw the switch so that they could start the ascent engine! Fortunately that worked and said pen is now on display in the exhibit, but I thought a similar occurrence would be a fun in-world explanation for my twitchy thumb.

Edited January 18, 2020 by ShuttleHugger
Fixed typo

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-51K Discovery Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Zachary Albrecht (CDR), Colin Khoroushi (PLT), Bill Kerman (MS1), Stuart Pryor (MS2), Timothy Swenhaugen (MS3)

Payload: TDRS-D, 6 Getaway Special (GAS) Canisters

Payload Mass: 7,713 kg

Launch: September 34, 1985 4:39:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 5d0h28m54s

Landing: October 4, 1985 5:07:54 at Kerbal Space Center

Statistics & Milestones: 28th Space Shuttle mission; 6th flight of Discovery; 12th landing at Kerbal Space Center.

Narrative Summary:

Launch was initially scheduled for September 32, but was delayed one day due to a >95% chance of rain that day, and then delayed one more day to September 34 for the same reason.

Discovery lifted off from KSC on the morning of September 34. Discovery was inserted into an initial 8x211km orbit. At MET 12m22s the wastewater tank on the flight deck sprang a leak. Flight controllers closed its valves and directed wastewater flow to the middeck tank with no impact upon the mission. At MET 15m the crew completed an OMS burn to place Discovery into a 73x211km orbit, inclination 1.0 degree, period 35m35s.

The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 4h42m to lower the orbit to 72x100km, and a second at 4h56m to circularize to 99x102km, period 32m39s. The crew also activated the six GAS canisters in the payload bay.

At MET 1d4h00m46s, the #2 oxygen tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. While the crew were able to transfer about half of the contents of the tank into other tanks, there was not room for everything and the remaining half of the contents leaked into space. At MET 1d4h51m00s the crew jettisoned the restraints holding TDRS-D into the payload bay, and subsequently raised the payload into the deployment position. TDRS-D was deployed at MET 1d5h51m30s. The first IUS burn placed TDRS-D into a 100x2,936km transfer orbit. The second burn placed it into a 2,935x3,084km orbit, which thruster burns refined to a geosynchronous orbit; to avoid the tumbling issues encountered by TDRS-C on its upper stage IUS burn, the primary antennas of TDRS-D were deployed prior to the burn, which was successful.

TDRS-D reached its operational orbit and was renamed TDRS-4.

Landing was originally scheduled for Flight Day 5, but it was pushed back by one day due to rain at KSC.

The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 5d0h08m. Albrecht and Khoroushi brought Discovery in for landing at KSC, with wheel stop at MET 5d0h28m54s.

Next Up: The day before Discovery landed, Challenger was rolled out to Pad 39A, continuing a quick series of launches. Challenger is scheduled for launch on October 8 on mission STS-51O, a lengthy and complex mission to deploy two commsats, test the latest redesign of the Kerballed Maneuvering Units, and retrieve the Long Duration Exposure Facility from orbit.

[SRB]

Nice work!

How do you fly the shuttles into orbit, and how do you land them?  How do you determine when to begin the de-orbit burn?

[ShuttleHugger]

17 hours ago, SRB said:

Nice work!

Thanks!

17 hours ago, SRB said:

How do you fly the shuttles into orbit, and how do you land them?  How do you determine when to begin the de-orbit burn?

I do all of the flying manually, other than SAS stability assist. The launch and landing profiles were developed through a ton of trial and error; as I was designing the shuttle I flew well over a dozen test missions in a separate sandbox save with quite a number of launch and landing accidents... I set the deorbit burn just based on where the orbiter is flying over (needs to be ~150 degrees before the planned landing site), but between difficulty in locating geographic features (I normally land during the day so I have to squint at the night side of Kerbin to find the deorbit burn location) and variations in the descent profile this is only accurate to 5 degrees or so. Once I start putting up GPS satellites I will allow myself to start using actual coordinates to locate the deorbit burn, which should be a lot more accurate.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-51O Challenger Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Bryan Argyris (CDR), Kirsten Pierre (PLT), Ethan Santoro (MS1), Bob Kerman (MS2), Fred Langbrook (MS3)

Payload: Galaxy V-A commsat, KCom 5 commsat, Kerballed Maneuvering Unit Mk. 3 x2, Canadarm, LDEF Restraint System

Other Objectives: Retrieve Long Duration Exposure Facility from orbit

Payload Mass: 8,274 kg

Launch: October 8, 1985 5:16:38 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 10d0h55m34s

Landing: October 19, 1985 0:12:12 at Edwards Air Force Range

Statistics & Milestones: 29th Space Shuttle mission; 11th flight of Challenger; 17th landing at Edwards Air Force Range. The 13th spacewalk of the Space Shuttle Program occurred on this flight.

Narrative Summary:

Challenger lifted off on the first launch opportunity on October 8, 1985. It was inserted into an initial 2x210km orbit. The OMS burn at MET 16m placed Challenger into a 72x210km orbit, inclination 1.9 degrees (or 1.7 degrees with respect to that of the LDEF), period 35m32s. At MET 20m20s the #3 monopropellant tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but the crew were able to transfer most of the contents into other tanks.

At MET 4h26m29s the #1 battery in the orbiter aft compartment short-circuited. At MET 4h54m the crew performed the first of three OMS burns for the day, a plane change maneuver taking approximately 60 m/s of Delta-v to align Challenger’s orbit with that of the LDEF, leaving the orbiter with an inclination of 1.2 degrees (or 0.1 degrees with respect to the LDEF). The crew completed a second burn at MET 4h59m to raise the orbit to 101x209km, and a third at MET 5h18m to circularize the orbit to 97x103km.

Galaxy V-A was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d1h30m25s, the second time for this satellite, as it was originally deployed on STS-5 only to have its PAM disintegrate (and was later retrieved on STS-41D). This second deployment went much more smoothly. The first PAM burn placed the satellite into a 103x2,818km transfer orbit. The second PAM burn and two RCS burns placed it into its operational orbit, nearly three years after originally planned.

KCom 5 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d1h59m25s. The first PAM burn placed into a 99x2,862km transfer orbit, and the satellite was thereafter successfully inserted into its operational orbit.

The crew spent Flight Day 5 preparing for the next day’s spacewalk.

The crew inflated the airlock in preparation for the spacewalk at MET 4d4h27m. Bob Kerman exited the airlock at MET 4d5h12m15s, followed by Fred Langbrook at4d5h13m30s. Langbrook strapped himself into the #2 KMU, while Kerman boarded the #1 KMU. Kerman undocked from Challenger, and performed approximately 1 minute of free flight before successfully redocking. Langbrook then undocked and moved the KMU to the aft end of the payload bay and attempted to return; although he experienced some control issues, he was able to redock after approximately 5m40s of free flight. Kerman then undocked a second time and took the KMU for a free flight to a distance of approximately 75 m from the payload bay and then returned, spending approximately six minutes in free flight. The astronauts deactivated the KMUs, and then retreated inside. Langbrook reentered the airlock at MET 4d5h38m18s, and Kerman at MET 4d5h39m20s. EVA time was 27m15s for Kerman, and 24m48s for Langbrook; this was the longest EVA of the shuttle program to date. The EVA began just after orbital sunrise, and lasted into the next orbital night. The KMUs were successfully validated, although KSP engineers identified a few further modifications to make before their first operational use on STS-61B.

The crew spent Flight Day 7 stowing equipment after the previous day’s EVA and preparing to begin the rendezvous with the LDEF the next day.

At MET 6d4h38m the crew conducted an OMS burn to commence the rendezvous sequence, lowering the orbit to 87x101km, period 32m13s, in order to approach the LDEF. The crew spent the remainder of the day performing experiments and photographing Kerbin while slowly catching up with the LDEF.

At MET 7d5h10m the crew began activating and unberthing Canadarm in preparation for rendezvous and capture of the LDEF. At MET 7d5h45m43s the #4 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking; due to the work with Canadarm there was a slight delay in transferring the oxidizer to another tank, and liquid oxygen good for 3 m/s of Delta-v leaked out. At MET 8d0h09m the crew performed an RCS maneuver to fine-tune the encounter with the LDEF in the next orbit, setting Challenger up to pass 600 m from the LDEF at a relative velocity of 21.3 m/s. At MET~8d0h40m Challenger conducted an OMS burn to nearly zero out its velocity with respect to the LDEF, and then began the terminal approach sequence. At MET 8d0h52m Challenger paused its approach at a range of 50m in order for both it and the LDEF to orient themselves for approach and capture. By MET 8d1h10m Challenger had approached to within 8m of the LDEF, close enough for Canadarm to contact the LDEF, but the crew experienced difficulty securing the grapple, exacerbated by the fact that the orbiter had moved into orbital night by this time; mission managers therefore made the call to suspend rendezvous operations until orbital sunrise. Sunrise occurred approximately three minutes later. Due to problems with Canadarm the crew reverted to the backup berthing method*, and Argyris maneuvered Challenger in to dock with the LDEF, with capture occurring at MET 8d1h25m02s. During the approach sequence, at MET 8d1h20m48s, the monopropellant tank aboard the #2 KMU began leaking. 10 minutes after capture the crew engaged the LDEF Restraint Mechanism to help hold the LDEF in the payload bay for reentry. The crew then stowed Canadarm in preparation for landing the next day.

The crew initially prepared for the prime landing opportunity at KSC, despite a forecast 70% chance of NO-GO weather. At MET 8d5h18m, 8 minutes before the planned deorbit burn, mission control gave the NO-GO call and the crew aborted the landing attempt, opening the payload bay doors and re-locking the aerodynamic control surfaces. As mission rules for this flight called for landing at KSC if at all possible in order to allow the least possibility of contamination of the LDEF during ground processing, mission managers decided to try once more to land at KSC on Flight Day 11, when the forecast called for a 62% chance of precipitation, and then to land at Edwards that day if the KSC landing was not possible.

At MET 9d5h11m the crew closed the payload bay for the first landing attempt of the day, but seven minutes before the re-entry burn the landing was called off due to rain at KSC. Due to a forecast 96% chance of rain the next day, mission managers elected to switch the prime landing site to Edwards. The crew thus reopened the payload bay and reconfigured the computers. The crew closed the payload bay doors for the second time that day at MET 10d0h17m. At MET 10d0h28m22s the motors to actuate the airlock failed. Challenger completed an RCS-assisted deorbit burn targeting Edwards Air Force Range at MET 10d0h35m, which was only able to lower to apoapsis to 9.6 km. Entry interface occurred at MET 10d0h41m32s. At MET 10d0h47m, at an altitude of approximately 36 km, Challenger began experiencing some abnormal pitching and yawing which ceased after the crew disabled the reaction wheels aboard the LDEF. Agryris steered Challenger in for a smooth landing with wheel stop at MET 10d0h55m34s.

This was the final mission for veteran astronaut Bryan Argyris, who retired after this flight. Argyris retired as one of the most experienced astronauts to date, having spent more than 85 days in space aboard Skylab and three space shuttle missions. KSP wishes Argyris all the best in his new position as COO of Western Airlines.

Next Up: The final in a back-to-back-to-back-to-back sequences of launches is scheduled for October 23, when Columbia will launch on STS-51I, carrying the Space Interferometry Test Platform and the second sitting member of Congress to fly into space.

*What actually happened was that, much like when I deployed it, the LDEF was very glitched out (screenshot below) and I was unable to release it after capturing it with Canadarm, so I elected to just manually dock instead.

Spoiler

 

[scottadges]

On 8/6/2019 at 11:22 PM, ShuttleHugger said:

Can I just say how awesome these patches are? I love the low-fidelity design and they've all got such personality. Really, kudos to having that to tell your story!

EDIT: For anyone browsing the forums and seeing this activity, definitely check out their summary table of mission patches.

To @ShuttleHugger If you haven't put these on the KSP Reddit, you really should! I had to google the actual STS mission patches to see how these aren't just re-creations, they're original artwork. Am I wrong?

STS-1 Columbia Apr. 7-9, 1981 Test Flight 1	STS-2 Columbia Dec. 14-19, 1981 Test Flight 2	STS-3 Columbia Apr. 35-May 7, 1982 Test Flight 3	STS-4 Columbia Sept. 13-22, 1982 Test Flight 4	STS-5 Columbia Dec. 27-31, 1982 Commsats
STS-6 Challenger Mar. 30-35, 1983 TDRS-A	STS-7 Challenger Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 1983 Commsats	STS-8 Challenger Jan. 1-6, 1984 Commsats	STS-9 Columbia Feb. 1-10, 1984 Spacelab 1	STS-41B Challenger Mar. 32-Apr. 3, 1984 Commsats
STS-41D Columbia May 19-26, 1984 LDEF	STS-41C Discovery June 2-10, 1984 Commsats	STS-41E Challenger June 25-29, 1984 TDRS-B	STS-41H Challenger Sept. 4-11, 1984 Kerbin Radiation Budget Satellite	STS-41G Discovery Sept. 24-29, 1984 Classified
STS-41F Columbia Oct. 28-32, 1984 Commsats	STS-51B Discovery Dec. 10-20, 1984 Spacelab 2	STS-51A Challenger Jan. 5-11, 1985 Commsats	STS-51D Columbia Jan. 21-32, 1985 Spacelab 3	STS-51F Discovery Mar. 12-16, 1985 Classified
STS-51E Challenger Apr. 3-6, 1985 TDRS-C	STS-51C Columbia May 1-7, 1985 GOES-E	STS-51G Challenger June 2-6, 1985 Commsats	STS-51H Discovery June 18-24, 1985 Commsats	STS-51J Columbia July 36-Aug. 3, 1985 Copernicus

STS-51M Challenger Aug. 10-13, 1985 Classified

STS-51N Atlantis Sept. 24-27, 1985 Classified

STS-51K Discovery Sept. 34-Oct. 4, 1985 TDRS-D

STS-51O Challenger Oct. 8, 1985 Commsats LDEF Retrieval

Edited February 22, 2020 by scottadges

[ShuttleHugger]

Thanks @scottadges ! I'm very glad you appreciate the patch artwork--that's honestly one of my favorite parts of this play-through. (& sorry for the very delayed reply--I've been on a bit of a KSP hiatus but am now finally getting back to it).

I haven't put these on the KSP Reddit; I'm not on Reddit but I'll consider doing it.

All of the patches are original artwork in that I drew them, but some are original designs, some are very nearly copies of real patches:

and some are more loosely/thematically inspired by real patches:

Overall probably half are more or less original designs and half more or less inspired by real patches.

 

Anyway I'll be getting back to flying soon (just need to draw my next patch and advance a few more days!) so I'll be posting again soon.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-51I Columbia Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Nigel Simonis (CDR), Casimir Deniau (PLT), Olivia Vukoja (MS1), Harriett Hartmann (MS2), Zachary Averesch (MS3), Mabyn Lapointe (PS1), Alfred Symons (PS2)

Backup Crew: Abigayle Filipovic (PS2)

Payload: Space Interferometry Test Platform, 6 Getaway Special (GAS) Canisters

Payload Mass: 4,242 kg

Launch: November 15, 1985 5:50:00

Mission Duration: 4d0h55m33s

Landing: November 20, 1985 0:45:33

Statistics & Milestones: 30th Space Shuttle mission; 12th flight of Columbia; 18th landing at Edwards Air Force Range. The 14th spacewalk of the Space Shuttle Program occurred on this flight. This spacewalk was the first in history to be conducted by two women. Representative Mabyn Lapointe of Michigan became the second sitting member of Congress to fly into space.

Narrative Summary:

The payload on STS-51I was the Space Interferometry Test Platform, a technology demonstration satellite to pave the way for the planned Jansky Space Array, the second of KSP's Great Observatories scheduled for launch in the late 1980s. This multi-element radio interferometer will allow unprecedented resolution in astronomical observations.

STS-51I has the dubious distinction of being the most-delayed operational Shuttle flight to date. When originally added to the flight manifest, it was scheduled to launch on April 34, 1985; various delays pushed the launch date back to October 23. The first launch attempt that day was scrubbed due to weather, while a second on the 24th was scrubbed to resolve engineering concerns with the SRB separation system. On October 26 at T-4m20s the #1 monopropellant tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. The resulting damage forced Columbia to be rolled back to the VAB for repairs, only the second roll-back in the history of the Kerbal Space Shuttle Program. Columbia again stood ready to launch on November 8, but while the astronauts were finishing boarding the middeck water tank sprang a leak. A launch attempt on November 10 was scrubbed due to rain. Columbia finally lifted off on the sixth attempt on November 15, 1985.

Columbia was inserted into an initial 15x195km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 16m inserted the orbiter into a 74x196km orbit, inclination 32.6 degrees, period 35m06s. At MET 17m35s the main antenna aboard the SITP failed; as this was the primary instrument of the payload, a repair EVA was added to Flight Day 3 and the payload deployment pushed back to Flight Day 4.

At MET 4h39m the crew completed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 74x101 km. At MET 4h41m15s the #10 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but the crew were able to transfer most of the contents into another tank. At MET 4h54m the crew completed a second OMS burn to circularize the orbit to 99x101km, period 32m38s.

At MET 1d4h38m the crew extended the airlock in preparation for the repair EVA. Olivia Vukoja exited the airlock at MET 1d5h05m36s, followed by Harriett Hartmann at 1d5h07m05s. Vukoja successfully repaired the antenna aboard the SITP, and then returned to the airlock. EVA time was 5m37s for Vukoja and 2m45s for Hartmann. At MET 2d1h38m30s the #10 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but the crew transferred most of the contents to other tanks.

At MET 2d4h41m50s the crew severed the ties holding the SITP in place in the payload bay, and shortly thereafter raised it into the deployment attitude. The SITP was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d5h14m30s. Half an hour later the Inertial Upper Stage burned to place the SITP into a highly elliptical orbit. The IUS overperformed, placing the SITP onto an escape trajectory out of the Kerbin system; however, quick action by ground controllers allowed the spacecraft to perform a burn to slow down, leaving it in a close-to-planned 98x9,005km orbit, inclination 32.3 degrees, period 1d4h51m34s. On November 25 the spacecraft raised itself to its final orbit of 302x9,005km, period 1d5h11m6s.

At MET 4d0h34m the crew completed the deorbit burn to target landing at Edwards Air Force Range. At MET 4d0h46m39s the #3 battery in the orbiter aft compartment short-circuited. Columbia made a smooth landing at Edwards Air Force Range with wheel stop at MET 4d0h55m33s.

Next Up: Atlantis is scheduled to launch on November 33 on STS-61C, carrying three geostationary communications satellites.

In Meta: It's been a while, but I'm finally back to playing KSP. I've updated to 1.9, and wow Kerbin looks so much nicer! I love the crispness of the graphics. I also love the ability to warp at any speed at any altitude; previously my missions took a long time to play through just because I was typically limited to 50x warp at my usual 100km operating altitude, but I should be able to play much more quickly now.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61C Atlantis Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Jane Steffensen (CDR), Peter Marchesi (PLT), Stephanie Van Can (MS1), Kolby Baart (MS2), Alanna Zelenko (MS3), Tanya Abbott (PS1), Zuleika Bellamy (PS2)

Payload: ExMarSat IV commsat, WorldCom 2 commsat, Bellstar 8-IV commsat, 4 Getaway Special Cannisters

Payload Mass: 6,448 kg

Launch: November 34, 1985 4:29:00

Mission Duration: 5d0h51m10s

Landing: December 4, 1985 5:20:10

Statistics & Milestones: 31st Space Shuttle mission; 2nd flight of Atlantis; 13th landing at Kerbal Space Center.

Narrative Summary:

This mission included two Payload Specialists: the third flight of Tanya Abbott of Rockomax Corporation, in order to conduct zero-g fluid flow experiments; and Zuleika Bellamy of Habtech Industries to conduct materials experiments in preparation for HabTech’s role building SpaceHab and Space Station Liberty. This was slightly awkward because Rockomax had lost the space station contract to HabTech, but Abbott and Bellamy became fast friends while training for the mission. The launch of ExMarSat IV was provided by KSP to External Maritime Satellite Corporation at no cost as compensation for the loss of ExMarSat II on STS-41B in March 1984 due to mistakes by KSP personnel, while the satellite itself was funded with the insurance payout from ExMarSat II.

Launch was originally scheduled for November 33, but was pushed back one day due to a forecast 97% chance of poor weather on the 33rd. Atlantis lifted off on the first opportunity on November 34, 1985. It was placed into an initial 16x150km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 14m placed the orbiter into a 72x150km orbit, inclination 2.2 degrees, period 33m24s. At MET 25m18s, one of the antennas aboard ExMarSat IV failed, and at MET 27m05s, one of the batteries on WorldCom 2 failed. At MET 33m06s one of the sets of reaction wheels aboard WorldCom 2 failed. None of these failures were on-orbit repairable. At MET 35m49s, one of WorldCom 2's antennas failed. WorldCom executives began debating whether they wanted the satellite deployed, or returned to Kerbin for servicing; they ultimately decided to deploy the satellite as planned.

An OMS burn at MET 4h40m raised the orbit to 102x150km, and a second at MET 4h57m circularized the orbit at 99x103km, period 32m41s.

ExMarSat IV was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d0h45m15s. The first PAM burn was initiated one orbit later; the PAM exhibited instability while burning, requiring the spacecraft SAS to activate to keep the burn on track, and the PAM first stage also overperformed, placing the spacecraft in a 102x3,251km geosynchronous transfer orbit. On the second PAM burn the spacecraft spun out of control, leaving the satellite in a 829x3,251km orbit. The spacecraft was able to use most of its onboard fuel to raise the orbit to 2,863x3,251km. Ground controllers were ultimately able to place the satellite into its operational orbit, albeit using almost all of its maneuvering fuel and with a higher than nominal inclination of 3.4 degrees.

WorldCom 2 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d0h15m14s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed the payload into a 101x2,868km GTO. The second PAM burn and an RCS correction burn placed WorldCom 2 into its operational orbit.

Bellstar 8-IV was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d4h38m20s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed the satellite onto a 100x3,099km transfer orbit, and with a further burn and two RCS correction maneuvers it was placed into its operational orbit.

The crew closed the payload bay at MET 5d0h12m. After receiving a good final weather report, they completed the deorbit burn at MET 5d0h28m. At MET 5d0h29m26s the deployment motor on one of the GAS Cannisters failed, but it has already been used so this was not a problem. Entry interface occurred at MET 5d0h34m18s. At MET 5d0h42m28s the motor to actuate the airlock failed. Steffensen and Marchesi brought Atlantis in for a smooth landing at Kerbal Space Center at MET 5d0h51m10s.

Next Up: Discovery is scheduled to launch on December 19 on mission STS-51L, the final mission of 1985, to carry two commsats into orbit.

In Other News: During November and December 1985 the prototype space shuttle Enterprise is undergoing facility and fit checks at Dessert Air Force Base in preparation for the commencement of polar-orbit shuttle flights from that launch site. The initial launch, STS-62A on Discovery, is currently scheduled for July 1986.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-51L Discovery Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Valentina Kerman (CDR), Arlene O'Brian (PLT), Wesley Vann (MS1), Ridley Warren (MS2), Jeffrey Van Rompuy (MS3), Edith Godfrey (PS1), Timothy Leggieri (PS2)

Backup Crew: Juliana Luther (PS1)

Payload: Galaxy VI-B commsat, BusinessLink 1 commsat

Payload Mass: 6,596 kg

Launch: December 21, 1985 5:40:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 5d1h12m08s

Landing: December 27, 1985 0:52:08 at Kerbal Space Center

Statistics & Milestones: 32nd Space Shuttle mission; 7th flight of Discovery; 14th landing at Kerbal Space Center. Payload Specialist Edith Godfrey, a teacher, was the first astronaut to fly through the Civilians in Space program.

Narrative Summary:

The crew included two payload specialists, teacher Edith Godfrey, who would deliver televised lessons from orbit for America's schoolchildren, and Timothy Leggieri of Probodobodyne Inc., who flew to conduct a middeck materials science experiment. The payload included BusinessLink 1, the largest commercial commsat flown to date on the shuttle, which was built to enable the efficient transfer of business data between the Kerbal States and Europe. The shuttle deployed its payloads from a 200km altitude as no commercially-available upper stage was capable of taking BusinessLink 1 to geosynchronous orbit from the usual 100km deployment altitude.

After launch was pushed back one day due to bad weather at KSC, ground controllers debated pushing back liftoff again to allow cold temperatures at Edwards Air Force Range to rise, but ultimately decided to proceed with the planned T-0. Discovery lifted off on the first try on December 21, 1985. At MET 3m17s the alternator on the left SSME failed. Discovery was placed into an initial 36x210km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 18m placed it into a 72x211km orbit, inclination 0.9 degrees, period 35m34s. At MET 19m34s the #16 liquid fuel tank began leaking, but the crew transferred most of the contents into other tanks.

At MET 4h02m42s the #10 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. The crew performed an OMS burn at MET 4h44m to lower the orbit to 72x199km, and a second at MET 5h02m to circularize to 196x209km, period 40m01s. Payload Specialist Godfrey delivered several televised lessons from orbit for America's schoolchildren on this and the next day.

Galaxy VI-B was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d0h04m39s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed the payload into a 209x2,851km transfer orbit, and further burns placed it into its operational orbit.

At MET 2d4h03m the #4 water tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking; the crew were able to transfer most of the contents into other tanks. At MET 2d5h03m12s one of the three monopropellant tanks aboard BusinessLink 1 began leaking. BusinessLink1 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d5h58m46s. One orbit later the first PAM burn raised the payload into a 207x2,643km transfer orbit; the PAM, the largest on the market, was known to be slightly underpowered for a satellite this massive. At MET 3d0h48m29s the internal battery in Discovery's #2 fuel cell short-circuited. At MET 3d2h07m54s the #13 liquid fuel tank began leaking. BusinessLink 1 later attained its operational orbit.

At MET 3d5h02m32s the middeck monopropellant tank began leaking, losing most of the contents to space. During the day the crew sent Christmas messages down to Kerbin. At MET 3d5h09m the crew completed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 102x197km. At MET 3d5h12m18s the middeck battery short-circuited. A second burn at MET 3d5h28m circularized the orbit to 97x104km, period 32m41s.

At MET 5d0h53m the crew completed an RCS-assisted deorbit burn to put Discovery on track for landing at KSC. Entry interface occurred at MET 5d0h59m24s. At an altitude of about 25 km Discovery experienced some instability and came close to spinning out of control; the crew were able to recover but were unable to maintain the nominal 10 degree nose-up attitude, and as a result the remainder of the descent was hotter than usual and Discovery touched down at a velocity of ~140 m/s, significantly higher than usual. Kerman and O'Brian brought Discovery in for a slightly bumpy landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 5d1h12m08s. Less than a minute after landing the #4 battery in the orbit aft compartment short-circuited. Discovery required extensive repairs after the many malfunctions on this flight and required over three months in the OPF.

Next Up: Challenger is scheduled to launch on STS-61D, carrying the Astro 1 Spacelab payload, on January 11, 1986.

In other news: KSP took the unprecedented step of canceling a future shuttle mission. STS-61L had been scheduled to launch on September 14, 1986, to carry the Long Duration Exposure Facility on its second flight. After the LDEF was returned from space on STS-51O, however, engineers discovered structural defects* that would prevent it from flying safely in space again. The crew assigned to STS-61L consisted of Valentina Kerman (CDR), Rosaleen Pulnik (PLT), Ethan Santoro (MS1), Harriett Hartmann (MS2), Fred Langbrook (MS3), and Nicholas Aalders of Canada (PS1). Kerman, Pulnik, and Hartmann were reassigned to STS-71A, and Santoro and Langbrook to STS-61Q.

Year-End Summary: During 1985 the Space Shuttle Program launched 15 flights. Challenger flew five times, Columbia and Discovery four times each, and Atlantis twice. The orbiters logged 80d0h03m60s of flight time, and carried 84 kerbals from four nations (5 kerbals flew twice) and 102,591 kg of payload into orbit.

*That is, the severe glitches experienced both on deployment and recapture that prevented me from using Canadarm for either...

Edited April 24, 2020 by ShuttleHugger
Forgot to include the "Next Up" section when I originally posted.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61D Challenger Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Orson Sauvageon (CDR), Martha Cummins (PLT), Lyell Power (MS1), Adam Donne (MS2), Liam Xun (MS3), Peter Yamaguchi (PS1), Hendrick Van 'T Hout, ESA/The Netherlands (PS2)

Backup Crew: Octavian Moreau (PS1), Ampelio Zini, ESA/Italy (PS2)

Payload: Astro 1: Shuttle Telescope Assembly (Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer [1.8m aperture; UVSE], Infrared Fourier Transform Spectrograph [1.0m aperture; IFTS], 2x Grazing Incidence X-ray Telescopes [0.625m apertures; GIXT]), 2x Gamma Ray Pathfinder Experiment (GRAPE), STA Crygenic Support Facility (SCSF)

Payload Mass: 3,838 kg

Launch: January 12, 1986 5:50:00 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 10d3h35m49s

Landing: January 23, 1986 3:25:49 at Kerbal Space Center

Statistics & Milestones: 33rd Space Shuttle mission; 12th flight of Challenger; 1st launch from KSC Pad 39B; 15th landing at KSC; 3rd night landing of the space shuttle program. Payload Specialist Hendrick Van 'T Hout was the first kerbal from the Netherlands to fly in space, as well as the first member of ESA Astronaut Group 2 to fly.

Narrative Summary:

After the launch was pushed back one day due to weather, Challenger lifted off from the newly-renovated Pad 39B* at Kerbal Space Center on January 12, 1986. Enclosed in the payload bay was a suite of telescopes covering wavelengths all the way from gamma rays to infrared radiation. During ascent, the external tank winglets did not separate when commanded at the nominal altitude of 20km, but did separate successfully when commanded a second time at MET 3m43 at an altitude of approximately 50 km. Challenger was placed into an initial 39x135km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 15m placed the orbiter into a 74x135km orbit, inclination 9.6 degrees, period 32m57s; the inclination was significantly higher than intended due to guidance errors during ascent. At MET 30m the Blue Team (Cummins, Power, Yamaguchi) went to bed while the Red Team (Sauvageon, Donne, Xun, and Van 'T Hout) began activating and checking out the orbiter systems, and additionally began chilling the IFTS and its associated 1m telescope with the cryogenic cooling system. Blue Team completed an OMS maneuver at MET 3h49m to raise the orbit to 74x152km, and a second at MET 4h06m to circularize it at 149x159km, period 36m28s.

At MET 1d0h32m Red Team began the process to deploy the Shuttle Telescope Assembly, first retracting the locks holding it in the payload bay, and then raising it out of the payload bay to its operational attitude. The crew began observations with the STA at MET 1d0h45m.

Most of the remainder of the mission proceeded smoothly. The crew concluded observations at MET 10d0h2m, after nearly 9 days of astronomical observations. Red Team began powering down and stowing the Shuttle Telescope Assembly; they completed the stowage procedures 23 minutes later. At MET 10d0h26m25s the #3 oxygen tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking; a planned OMS maneuver to lower the orbit which was then imminent was postponed until the tank was allowed to leak dry to avoid any possibility of ignition in the aft compartment. At MET 10d0h55m57s the payload bay door motors failed, the first time during the Space Shuttle Program that this had happened while the payload bay was open. This forced the addition of an emergency spacewalk to the flight to fix the problem. At MET 10d1h06m the crew performed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 99x158km, and a second at MET 10d1h23m to circularize to 95x101km, period 30m28s. Blue Team was awoken early at MET 10d2h00m to prepare for the emergency spacewalk and landing. Lyell Power exited the airlock at MET 10d2h30m50s, followed by Adam Donne at MET 10d2h32m05s. They quickly repaired the motors. EVA time was 2m24s for Donne and 4m29s for Power. The crew successfully closed the payload bay doors at MET 10d3h00m. Challenger completed the deorbit burn at MET 10d3h17m. Entry interface occurred at MET 10d3h22m30s. Sauvageon and Cummins brought Challenger in for a night landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 10d3h35m49s, bringing to a close the longest space shuttle flight to date.

Next Up: Pending the successful completion of investigations into the causes of the winglet and payload bay door motor anomalies on STS-61D, Atlantis is scheduled to launch on STS-61B on January 31 for a mission to test space construction techniques in preparation for Space Station Liberty.

*Pad 39B is a meta-game convenience to allow me to have two shuttles on the pad at once. I am not actually running one of the mods that adds launch pads to KSC.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61B Atlantis Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Abe Dykstra (CDR), Rick Wakefield (PLT), David Houtkooper (MS1), Elizabeth Britton (MS2), Haley Vang (MS3), Anna Smits (MS4), Maria Koch (MS5)

Payload: Space Construction Experiment: 4x SCE Trusses, SCE Base Unit, SCE Turret Mount; Kerballed Maneuvering Unit x2, Canadarm

Payload Mass: 6,119 kg

Launch: February 3, 1986 5:30:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 7d5h43m18s

Landing: February 11, 1986 5:13:18 at Kerbal Space Center

Statistics & Milestones: 34th Space Shuttle Mission; 3rd flight of Atlantis; 16th landing at KSC; the 16th, 17th, and 18th EVAs of the Space Shuttle Program occurred on this flight; first flight with a full complement of 7 KSP astronauts (all previous 7-kerbal flights had included two non-KSP payload specialists). Commander Abe Dykstra became the first kerbal to fly on the Shuttle four times, while Wakefield, Smits, and Koch became the first members of KSP Astronaut Group 10 (selected 1984) to fly. Elizabeth Britton set a shuttle spacewalk duration record of 52m15s on this mission.

Narrative Summary:

Atlantis lifted off from KSC on February 3, 1986, for STS-61B, on a mission to test space construction techniques in preparation for the construction of the Space Station Liberty. This was the first preparatory space shuttle mission funded under the space station program, and so was designated mission 1P in the space station construction sequence. The orbiter was placed into an initial 47x226km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 19m placed it into a 73x226km orbit, inclination 1.1 degrees, period 36m10s.

The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 4h32m to raise the orbit to 121x226km, and a second at MET 4h51m to circularize to 115x124km, period 33m59s. During the burn the crew reported a dull “boom” noise from the OMS engines but there was nothing in telemetry to indicate any problem. At MET 1d0h01m the crew began unlocking and activating Canadarm.

At MET 1d5h01m Houtkooper and Wakefield began operations with Canadarm to build the first two elements of the truss, while Britton and Smits prepared for their EVA the next day, assisted by Vang and Koch. 11 minutes later Houtkooper and Wakefield captured the #1 SCE Truss, and then undocked it from the SCE Turret Mount. At MET 1d5h51m they grappled the truss to the SCE Base Unit. They then grappled the #2 Truss at MET 2d0h04m, and subsequently ungrappled it from the STM, and docked it to the top of the #1 Truss 10 minutes later. The crew concluded the day's construction activities by rotating the STM 180 degrees to allow access to the #3 and #4 Trusses during the next day's spacewalk.

Elizabeth Britton exited the airlock at MET 3d5h18m30s, followed by Anna Smits 1m10s later. Britton then boarded the #1 KMU, and undocked from Atlantis at MET 3d5h22m30s. Just over two minutes later she successfully redocked to the #3 Truss. The Truss was then decoupled from the STM, and Britton maneuvered the Truss into position and docked it to the #2 Truss at MET 3d5h29m33s. She docked to the #4 Truss, and then maneuvered it into position atop the #3 Truss, finishing just after orbital sunset. At MET 3d5h38m42s she redocked the KMU in its stowage position in the payload bay, deactivated it, and prepared to end the EVA. EVA time was 22m30s for Smits and 24m31s for Britton. Britton reported that the KMU handled surprisingly well; the many tests of the previous designs on STS-41D, STS-51C, and STS-51O had finally paid off. The overall crew assessment was that construction with the KMU was easier than with Canadarm. At MET 2d5h57m11s the #8 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, followed by the #2 tank at MET 2d5h59m12s, but the crew were able to transfer their contents to another tank.

Vang and Koch spent Flight Day 5 preparing for their spacewalk the next day.

Haley Vang exited the airlock at MET 4d5h09m45s, followed by Maria Koch at MET 4d5h11m00s. They proceeded to various workstations along the length of the Truss to connect test cabling*, and then disconnect them again in preparation for stowage of the Truss. EVA time was 22m52s for Koch and 25m08s for Vang.

Due to the good performance of the KMUs and forecast bad weather at KSC on the planned Feb. 12 landing date and the date after, flight controllers elected to have EVA3 completely disassemble the truss and have the mission land the day thereafter, one day early. The original flight plan had been to partially disassemble the Truss during the EVA and complete this using Canadarm.

Elizabeth Britton exited the airlock at MET 6d4h28m30s, followed by Anna Smits at MET 6d4h29m29s. Smits boarded the #1 KMU and began activating it, while Britton translated to the Truss and began undoing some remaining cabling. Smits docked to the end of the #4 Truss, which was then undocked from the truss structure. After some unanticipated difficulties due to the positioning of the truss structure, Smits managed to redock the #4 Truss to the STM, but due to the positioning difficulties she was unable to attach the truss in the correct orientation, which would block the #3 Truss from being attached. Flight controllers made the call to rotate the STM to accommodate the #3 Truss, which Smits then attached. An alternate plan was devised to attempt to retrieve all four truss segments, considering that it was the #1 Truss attached to the SCE Base Unit that was blocking proper placement. Smits grappled the #2 Truss with her KMU, and then Britton boarded and activated the #2 KMU. Smits undocked the #2 Truss and stood by next to the payload bay while Britton grappled the #1 Truss and undocked with it. Britton successfully stowed the #1 Truss, and then undocked and moved the #2 KMU into its docking position. Smits needed to undock and then redock to the other end of the #2 Truss, and then successfully docked it to the STM, completing the stowage of the truss. Smits redocked her KMU in the stowage position, and then the astronauts retreated inside the airlock. The total EVA time was 52m15s for Britton and 50m42s for Smits, by far the longest spacewalk of the Shuttle Program. Houtkooper and Koch then proceeded to stow and power down Canadarm. At MET 6d5h51m Dykstra and Wakefield performed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 93x124km, and a second at MET 7d0h08m to circularize to 93x101km, period 32m26s; the "boom" heard on one of the burn on Flight Day 2 reoccurred on the first of these burns.

The crew prepared for landing a day earlier than originally planned, as the forecast of rain at KSC on February 12 continued to be borne out. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 7d5h25m. Entry interface occurred at MET 7d5h30m28s. Atlantis touched down at KSC with wheel stop at MET 7d5h43m18s; the approach was hotter and rollout longer than typical.

*In reality I just had them sit on the ladders on the truss for some time.

Next Up: Columbia is scheduled for launch on February 15 on STS-61A, a Spacelab mission sponsored by West Germany.

[ShuttleHugger]

Svoboda Launch Report

Товарищи мира! На 20-ого Февраля 1986 года, СССР стартовали космическую станцию «Свобода» из Космодроме Вумэранг. Наука и Индустрия!

Comrades of the world! On the 20th of February 1986, the SSSR launched the space station "Svoboda" from Woomerang Cosmodrome. Science and Industry!

Quick Summary:

Crew: None

Payload: Svoboda Functional Cargo Block

Payload Mass: 10,071 kg

Launch: February 20, 1986 1:45:00 from Woomerang Cosmodrome

Launcher: Neitron

In Meta: I decided to also add some aspects of the SSSR space program to this game as I wanted to be able to have my own version of the Shuttle-Mir Program, and I've also wanted to do a Mir play-through for a while, so I decided to integrate that into my shuttle program game. I'm only going to be doing SSSR flights associated with Svoboda, crew rotations and resupply and eventually additional modules, not any unrelated satellites. The bulk of the activity with this game will remain with the shuttles. As is probably obvious from the screenshots, I am using the excellent Tantares mod for the SSSR payloads, and stock parts for the launch vehicles. And this will probably be the only post to use so much of my admittedly rusty knowledge of Russian

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61A Columbia Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Timothy Vela (CDR), Eddie Schuchardt (PLT), Laurence Cizek (MS1), Huey Schnoor (MS2), Allan Otto (MS3), Erich Brune, ESA/West Germany (PS1), Esther Reynders, ESA/Belgium (PS2), Lene Kunkel, West Germany (PS3)

Backup Crew: Hanne Linden, ESA/West Germany (PS1), Birgitte Jenson, ESA/Denmark (PS2), Nicola Fromm, West Germany (PS3)

Payload: Spacelab D-1: Spacelab Pressurized Module 2, Spacelab Vacuum Pallet, 4x GAS Cannisters

Payload Mass: 7,544 kg

Launch: February 16, 1986 5:30:00 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 11d2h00m09s

Landing: February 28, 1986 1:30:09 at Edwards Air Force Range

Statistics & Milestones: 35th Space Shuttle mission; 13th flight of Columbia; 2nd launch from Pad 39B; 19th landing at Edwards Air Force Range. First Space Shuttle mission with a crew of 8, the largest crew ever launched aboard a single spacecraft. Payload Specialist Esther Reynders became the first Belgian in space, and Payload Specialist Erich Brune became the first non-American, non-SSSR kerbal to fly in space twice. This was the longest space shuttle mission to date and the first to exceed a duration of 11 days.

Narrative Summary:

The STS-61A/Spacelab D-1 was the first shuttle mission funded and partially controlled by a foreign nation; the West German space agency provided funding for the flight, and payload operations were controlled from Oberpfaffenhofen, West Germany.

After a one-day delay due to poor weather at the Edwards Air Force Range emergency landing site, Columbia lifted off on February 16, 1986. The orbiter was placed into an initial 42x139km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 15m placed into a 72x139km orbit, inclination 0.6 degrees, period 33m01s. At MET 17m44s the deployment motor on the #2 GAS Cannister failed. Red Team (Vela, Schnoor, Otto, and Kunkel) activated all orbiter systems while Blue Team (Schuchardt, Cizek, Brune, and Reynders) slept. They traded places at MET 3h00m. At MET 3h38m08s the orbiter high-gain antenna failed, preventing the transmission of live television during the mission, including planned connections with schoolchildren in West Germany and the Kerbal States. Mission managers elected to continue with the mission, however. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 3h50m to lower the orbit to 72x129km, and a second at MET 4h06m to circularize at 126x131km, period 34m37s. At MET 4h09m54s the #4 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but the crew were able to transfer most of the contents into other tanks.

At MET 1d0h02m the crew moved into the Spacelab pressurized module and began activating it and conducting experiments.

At MET 2d0h02m23s the #3 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but the crew saved most of the contents by transfer to another tank.

At MET 3d0h33m32s the #5 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but its contents were mostly transferred to another tank.

At MET 5d0h06m49s the motor to actuate the shuttle airlock failed.

On Flight Day 10, looking ahead at the KSC weather forecast, flight controllers opted to switch the prime landing site from KSC to Edwards due to forecast poor weather at KSC on the planned landing day; they chose to do so rather than bring the mission home a day early in order to allow all of the planned experiments to be finished.

At MET 11d0h03m Schnoor and Kunkel began shutting down Spacelab while Vela and Otto prepared to adjust Columbia's orbit. At MET 11d0h18m they conducted an OMS burn to lower Columbia's orbit to 101x131km, and a second at MET 11d0h35m to circularize the orbit at 99x101km, period 32m37s. After an abbreviated sleep period, Blue Team was awoken at MET 11d1h23m to prepare for landing at Edwards, as the forecast of rain for KSC on February 28 had panned out. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 11d1h41m. Entry interface occurred at MET 11d1h47m44s, and Vela and Schuchardt brought Columbia in for a hard landing at EAFR with wheel stop at MET 11d2h00m09s, closing out the longest shuttle mission to date.

Next Up: March 1986 will be the first month since February 1985 with no shuttle flights. After this brief lull, the program will resume with the launch of Challenger on STS-61F on April 12, carrying a classified payload for the Kerbal States Department of Defense.

[ShuttleHugger]

Soyuz TM-1 Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: None

Spacecraft Mass: 3,537 kg

Launch: March 19, 1986 1:17:10 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome

Launcher: Soyuz

Mission Duration: 7d0h48m30s

Landing: March 26, 1986 2:05:40

Narrative Summary:

The uncrewed test flight of the new Soyuz TM module lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome on March 19, 1986 at 1:17 and was inserted into a 89x137km orbit, period 33m33s, inclination 45.9 degrees, inclined 0.6 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda. The spacecraft performed a maneuver at 2:01 to align its orbit to within 0.1 degrees of that of Svoboda, and a second at 2:17 to raise the orbit to 89x156km with the periapsis intersecting Svoboda's orbit, setting up the rendezvous sequence.

It slowly caught up with Svoboda over the next day, and at 1:42 on March 20 it completed an additional burn to raise its orbit to 106x156km and set up a rendezvous with Svoboda one orbit later, where it would pass 800 m from the station at a velocity difference of 33 m/s. Soyuz TM-1 commenced the terminal rendezvous sequence at about 2:15, canceling out its velocity with respect to Svoboda and beginning the approach. After some initial difficulty with engaging the docking system, Soyuz TM-1 successfully docked to the forward port of Svoboda at 2:31:26 on March 20. The total mass of the Svoboda complex after docking was 13,220 kg.

On March 22 the station conducted two small orbital adjustment maneuvers, the first at 0:23 to lower the orbit to 151x155km, and the second at 0:41 to circularize the orbit to 155x155km, period 36m33s.

After five days of docked test operations, Soyuz TM-1 undocked from Svoboda at 1:30:00 on March 25, and backed away for additional solo tests in free flight.

Soyuz TM-1 completed its deorbit burn at 1:52 on March 26. At 2:00 the orbital and service modules were jettisoned. Entry interface occurred at 2:01:17, and the capsule touched down at 2:05:40. Due to a targeting error the capsule landed short, touching down high in the Caucasus Mountains and rolling down a slope before coming to rest in an alpine cirque at an altitude of more than 4777m, and it was several days before the capsule could be retrieved.

Mishchenie 25 Launch Report

Quick Summary:

Spacecraft Mass: 3,366 kg

Launch: April 4, 1986 0:59:29 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome

Launcher: Soyuz

Narrative Summary:

The Mischchenie 25 freighter lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome on April 4 and was inserted into a 111x153km orbit, inclined 0.3 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda, period 34m54s. At 1:38 it completed a maneuver to zero out its inclination with respect to Svoboda, and another small maneuver at 2:09 to match its apogee with Svoboda's orbit. At 2:27 it completed an approach targeting maneuver to set up an approach to 800 m from Svoboda at a relative velocity of 53.4 m/s. It docked to the aft port of Svoboda at 3:12:39 on April 4, less than half a day after launch. Svoboda now stands ready to receive its first crew; an announcement regarding that flight will be made at a later date.

In Meta: Uncrewed cargo resupply missions are pretty boring so in the future these will just be reported quickly in the "In Other News" sections of other posts.

[ShuttleHugger]

Soyuz TM-2 Orel Launch Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Eduard Zelenko (CDR), Grigori Sobol (FE)

Backup Crew: Aleksandr Vasilyev (CDR), Ilya Voronin (FE)

Launch: April 12, 1986 0:52:43 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome

Docking: April 13, 1986 2:02:49 to Svoboda's forward port

Narrative Summary:

Soyuz TM-2 (callsign Orel), with the first long-duration crew for the Svoboda space station (Svoboda EO-1), lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome before dawn on the 25th anniversary of Yuri Kerman's pioneering first spaceflight. Several minutes thereafter the spacecraft was inserted into an 84x107km orbit, period 32m18s, inclined 0.7 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda. The crew performed a maneuver at 1:11 to precisely align their orbit with that of Svoboda, and a second at 1:24 to raise the orbit to 84x155km in preparation for rendezvous.

At 0:46 on April 13 the crew maneuvered to set up a 116-km pass with Svoboda, but getting closer on that pass would require dipping into the atmosphere; they thus only lowered the orbit to 72x155km. At 1:19 they made a second maneuver to raise the orbit to 128x157km to set up an 800 m pass by Svoboda at a velocity difference of 27.8 m/s one orbit later. At 1:55 Zelenko and Sobol began the terminal rendezvous sequence, and docked to the forward port of Svoboda at 2:02:49. The combined orbital complex had a mass of 15,740 kg. At 2:29 the crew opened the hatches and moved into Svoboda for the first time.

Zelenko and Sobol spent the next few weeks activating Svoboda and setting up equipment within the space station. They are scheduled to stay on-orbit through the end of July, when they will be relieved by the Soyuz TM-3/Svoboda EO-2 crew.

In Meta: The Soyuz flight posts will be a little different from the Shuttle posts, due to their long duration and overlapping nature. Each future post will cover the launch of on Soyuz flight and the landing of the one it is replacing on-orbit.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61F Challenger Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Coleen Stirling (CDR), Fabian Thorsen (PLT), Tatiana Ter Avest (MS1), Joshua Holmes (MS2), Larissa Pensak (PS1), Carrol John Patrick (PS2)

Payload: KSA-034, KSA-035 (CLASSIFIED)

Payload Mass: 5,002 kg

Launch: April 14, 1986 0:09:28 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 4d0h11m26s

Landing: April 18, 1986 0:20:54 at Kerbal Space Center

Statistics & Milestones: 36th Space Shuttle Mission; 13th flight of Challenger; 17th landing at KSC; 5th dedicated shuttle mission for the KSA DOD.

Narrative Summary:

After launch was pushed back one day due to a rain forecast at KSC, Challenger lifted off on April 14 with a classified payload. Television coverage of the mission ended five minutes after launch.

Challenger returned to land at Kerbal Space Center four days later. After landing it was wheeled into Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 for its Double Downtime maintenance period, an extended maintenance period to restore all orbiter systems to full operating potential 1/8 of the way through the planned orbiter lifetime of 100 flights. During this time Challenger will also be outfitted with hardware to support the launch of Centaur-G liquid-fueled upper stages aboard the orbiter.

Classified Summary:

Spoiler

CLASSIFIED SUMMARY - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

On this flight Challenger carried Satellite Data System 2E and 2F, a pair of secure communication relay satellites destined for semi-synchronous orbit, and completing the second-generation SDS constellation; the first two pairs of satellites had been launched on STS-41G and STS-51N. At MET 2m27s one of the monopropellant tanks aboard SDS 2E began leaking. The orbiter was placed into an initial 49x135km orbit. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 16m to place Challenger into a 72x135km orbit, inclination 45.0 degrees, period 32m52s.

At MET 4h39m the crew performed an OMS burn to raise the orbit to 102x135km, and a second at MET 4h55m to circularize the orbit to 99x103km, period 32m42s.

At MET 1d5h00m30s the crew decoupled the ties restraining the payload stack in the payload bay, and subsequently raised the payload into the deployment position. The SDS stack was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h33m45s. The IUS burn placed the combined payload stack into a 102x1,573km transfer orbit. SDS 2E performed a burn at its first apoapsis to insert it close to its operational semi-synchronous orbit, and SDS 2F did the same on its second apoapsis. After additional maneuvers the next day both spacecraft reached their operational orbits and were renamed KSA-034 and KSA-035, respectively.

The crew spent Flight Day 4 on classified experiments.

The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 3d5h52m. Entry interface occurred at MET 3d5h57m35s. Stirling and Thorsen brought Challenger in for landing at Kerbal Space Center with wheel stop at MET 4d0h11m26s.

Next Up: The day after Challenger landed, Discovery was rolled out to Pad 39B for STS-51P, carrying a weather satellite.

Edited May 11, 2020 by ShuttleHugger
Fixed typo

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-51P Discovery Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Kacey Gibson (CDR), Myles Baumgartner (PLT), Jacqueline McFarland (MS1), James Hasenkamp (MS2), Elliott Martins (MS3), Racquel Van Laar (PS1), Rainer MacIver (PS2)

Payload: GOES-F

Payload Mass: 5,906 kg

Launch: April 23, 1986 5:50:00 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 3d5h16m10s

Landing: April 27, 1986 5:06:10 at Kerbal Space Center

Statistics & Milestones: 37th Space Shuttle mission; 8th flight of Discovery; 3rd launch from Pad 39B; 18th landing at KSC.

Narrative Summary:

Two payload specialists flew on this mission: Racquel Van Laar, an Aperture Laboratories scientist making her second spaceflight, and Rainer MacIver, a physician at the Holland Clinic conducting microgravity medical experiments.

Discovery lifted off on the first launch opportunity on April 23, 1986. The orbiter was placed into an initial 29x212km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 17m placed Discovery into a 72x213km orbit, inclination 1.5 degrees, period 35m38s.

At MET 4h16m55s, the internal battery in the #1 fuel cell short-circuited. At MET 4h44m the crew completed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 72x199km, and a second at MET 5h02m to circularize the orbit to 195x211km, period 40m05s.

The holds securing GOES-F into the payload bay were released at MET 1d4h42m30s, and the payload was subsequently raised to the deployment attitude. GOES-F was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h22m25s; for the first time on this mission, an inverted deployment attitude was used, with the payload bay facing towards Kerbin rather than open space. The fist IUS burn one orbit later placed the payload stack into a 210x2,751km transfer orbit. The spacecraft reached its operational orbit the next day and was renamed GOES-5.

The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 2d4h30m to lower the orbit to 99x194km, and a second at MET 2d4h49m to circularize the orbit to 92x102km.

Discovery completed its deorbit burn at MET 3d4h56m. Entry interface occurred at MET 3d5h01m50s. Gibson and Baumgartner brought Discovery in for landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 3d5h16m10s. This concluded the final planned mission of Discovery from Kerbal Space Center for at least the next two years; after processing the KSC OPF to safe Discovery after STS-51P, it will be ferried cross-country to Dessert Air Force Base and prepared for the first polar orbit shuttle flight. STS-62A, currently scheduled for launch on July 20, 1986, will kick off a busy western launch campaign consisting primarily of military and GPS satellites.

Next Up: Atlantis is scheduled for launch on May 3 on STS-61I, the Spacelab 4 Life Sciences mission.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61I Atlantis Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Ronnie Queen (CDR), Ted Valencia (PLT), Felix Derrick (MS1), Cameron Nemeth (MS2), Wendy Laninga (MS3), Melodie Francois, ESA/France (PS1), Christoph Wang, Canada (PS2), Shelly Bukowski (PS3)

Backup Crew: Christophe Bertrand, ESA/France (PS1), David Baird, Canada (PS2), Lucia McLean (PS3)

Payload: Spacelab 4 Life Sciences: Spacelab Pressurized Module 1

Payload Mass: 5,909 kg

Launch: May 3, 1986 5:30:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 11d1h28m28s

Landing: May 15, 1986 0:58:28 at Kerbal Space Center

Statistics & Milestones: 38th Space Shuttle mission; 4th flight of Atlantis; 19th landing at KSC.

Narrative Summary:

Atlantis lifted off on the first launch attempt on May 3, 1986. It was placed into an initial 29x168km orbit, and an OMS burn at MET 15m inserted Atlantis into a 72x167km orbit, inclination 0.5 degrees, period 34m01s. At MET 30m Green Team (Valencia, Nemeth, Francois, Wang) went to bed while Gold Team (Queen, Derrick, Laninga, Bukowski) continued activating orbiter systems. They switched spots at MET 3h00m, and at MET 3h22m Green Team conducted an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 72x131km. They completed a second burn at MET 3h38m to circularize the orbit to 129x134km, period 34m51s. At MET 3h39m55s the #7 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but the crew transferred most of the contents to different tanks. The crew then began activating the Spacelab module.

At MET 1d0h01m Gold Team moved into Spacelab and began conducting the planned roster of experiments.

After ten full days devoted to around-the-clock science in the Spacelab module, at MET 11d0h02m Green Team went off-duty and soon to bed, while Queen and Laninga prepared to maneuver the orbiter and Derrick and Bukowski began shutting down Spacelab. They completed an OMS maneuver at MET 11d0h15m to lower the orbit to 99x134km, and a second at MET 11d0h32m to circularize the orbit to 98x102km, period 32m38s. Green Team was reawoken in preparation for landing at MET 11d0h50m. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 11d01h10m. Entry interface occurred at MET 11d01h16m50s. The final portion of the descent was much hotter than on any previous flight, and the orbiter's wings experienced worrying levels of flexure during the terminal stages of the descent.  Queen and Valencia brought Atlantis in for a hard landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 11d01m28m28s. At MET 11d01h28m43s the #4 water tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking.

Next Up: Columbia is scheduled to lift off on June 7 carrying two commsats and KSP's next Explorer-class mission, AMPTE.

In Other News: KSP managers have made the unprecedented decision to swap the next two missions in Atlantis' launch manifest less than two months before the first of those was scheduled to launch. STS-61K has been pushed back, and STS-61M, carrying the Hubble Space Telescope, has been moved forward. This decision was driven by the need to have sufficient schedule contingency as to not effect the time-critical launch of the Ulysses spacecraft to Jool later in 1986; STS-61K may need to be pushed to after that flight if refurbishing Atlantis after STS-61M takes too long. The higher-priority Hubble mission takes precedence in the possibility that one mission will need to be delayed.

Additionally, after years of negotiations KSP and the SSSR space agency Markosmos have concluded an agreement to fly a space shuttle mission to dock with the Svoboda space station in late 1987. The mission will swap out one crewmember on Svoboda, simulating the rescue of an ill cosmonaut, and will include the first SSSR cosmonaut to launch on an American rocket. This will also be the first joint KSA-SSSR mission since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

[Petrovich]

Really digging this series.

Just out of curiosity, if one of your orbiters suffered a catastrophic failure, would you "in-universe" pursue any shuttle redesigns similar to those studied in real-life?

[ShuttleHugger]

On 5/20/2020 at 11:34 PM, Petrovich said:

Just out of curiosity, if one of your orbiters suffered a catastrophic failure, would you "in-universe" pursue any shuttle redesigns similar to those studied in real-life?

Excellent question (and thanks for the kind words @Petrovich). I think it would depend on when and what exactly happened if I experience a loss of crew and vehicle. Most likely I would just build a replacement orbiter Endeavour, but I might also start the in-world development of a shuttle replacement (TBH I may do this eventually even without a catastrophic accident). My inclination would be to pursue something like the Evolved Shuttle architecture in the article you linked, but I'll see.

On an unrelated note, I was hoping to fly several missions over the long Memorial Day weekend here in the US, but on Thursday night my hard drive failed and I've only just now managed to get all of the data off and get a new drive installed. Lost a bunch of time but at least I have all of my data and a functioning computer again.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61E Columbia Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Gavin Molloy (CDR), Simona Thorsen (PLT), Raphael Stacks (MS1), Aileen Biagi (MS2), Balthazar Mata (MS3), Cornelia Page, Australia (PS1), Anastasia Kron (PS2)

Backup Crew: Preston Paulie, Australia (PS1), Florian Gustafsson (PS2)

Payload: Kerbstar 9 commsat, Southern Star 1, Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers (AMPTE)

Payload Mass: 7,144 kg

Launch: June 7, 1986 2:31:30 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 6d2h06m01s

Landing: June 13, 1986 4:37:31 at Kerbal Space Center

Statistics & Milestones: 39th Space Shuttle mission; 14th flight of Columbia; 4th launch from Pad 39B; 7th night launch of the Space Shuttle program; 20th landing at KSC. The 19th EVA of the Space Shuttle program took place on this mission. Payload Specialist Cornelia Page became the first Australian to fly into space.

Narrative Summary:

In addition to two commsats, the payload of STS-61E included the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers (AMPTE), the first KSP Explorer-class scientific mission to fly aboard the Shuttle. This mission will fly on a highly elliptical orbit through Kerbin's magnetic field, and consists of three sub-satellites: the Ion Release Module (IRM), which will release xenon ions into the solar wind, and the Charged Composition Explorer (CCE) and United Kingdom Subsatellite (UKS; provided by the British space agency), which will fly at a distance and study the dynamics of Kerbin's magnetosheath as traced by the released xenon. Payload Specialist Anastasia Kron is a member of the AMPTE Science Team.

After two days of launch delays due to rain at KSC, Columbia lifted off into the night on the third launch attempt on June 7, 1986. It was inserted into an initial 34x122km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 14m placed the orbiter into a 72x122km orbit, inclination 0.7 degrees, period 32m27s.

The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 4h33m to raise the orbit to 102x123km, and a second at MET 4h49m to circularize the orbit to 102x104km. At MET 1d2h00m57s, one of the antennas aboard Southern Star 1 failed. Mission managers elected to add an emergency spacewalk on Flight Day 4 to repair the antenna, and push the Southern Star 1 and AMPTE deployments back by one day each.

Kerbstar 9 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h19m35s. The PAM lower stage burn one orbit later placed the payload onto a 102x2,890km transfer orbit. It reached its operational orbit the next day.

Raphael Stacks exited the airlock at MET 2d4h37m00s, followed by Balthazar Mata at MET 2d4h38m40s. Stacks repaired the center antenna on Southern Star 1, and then the astronauts retreated inside the airlock. EVA time was 2m55s for Mata and 6m07s for Stacks.

Southern Star 1 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 4d0h51m40s. The first PAM burn placed it into a 103x2,893km transfer orbit. Two more maneuvers placed the satellite in its operational geostationary orbit by the next day.

At MET 4d5h50m27s the #2 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but its contents were transferred to other tanks before a significant amount was lost. AMPTE was deployed from the payload bay at MET 5d0h25m06s. The single-stage PAM burn one orbit later placed the spacecraft into a highly elliptical 102x7,226km orbit.

AMPTE made a maneuver at its first apogee on this day to put it into its final 254x7,226km orbit, period 1d2h23m50s. The crew prepared for a landing attempt at KSC, but with a 90% chance of poor weather no one expected a go call. The crew closed the payload bay doors at MET 6d1h27m, and by the time that the final go-no go call was given eight minutes later the rain showers had moved safely offshore and Columbia was given the go to land. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 6d1h43m. Entry interface occurred at MET 6d1h50m05s. Columbia made a morning landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 6d2h06m01. Later that day, the first of the three AMPTE sub-satellites, AMPTE UKS, separated. It will be put into an orbit slightly ahead of the middle satellite, IRM, while the last satellite CCE, will be in the trailing position.

Columbia flying into the same constellations depicted on the mission patch.

Next Up: Discovery is slated to launch on the first polar-orbit shuttle mission, STS-62A, on July 20.