STS-29 Fact Sheet

By Cliff Lethbridge

STS-29 — Discovery

28th Space Shuttle Mission

8th Flight of Discovery

Crew:

Michael L. Coats, Commander

John E. Blaha, Pilot

James F. Buchli, Mission Specialist

Robert C. Springer, Mission Specialist

James P. Bagian, Mission Specialist

Orbiter Preparations:

Tow to Orbiter Processing Facility – October 9, 1988

Rollover to Vehicle Assembly Building – January 23, 1989

Rollout to Launch Pad 39B – February 3, 1989

Launch:

March 13, 1989 – 9:57:00 a.m. EST. Launch had been scheduled for February 18, 1989 but was delayed due to the replacement of suspect main engine oxidizer turbopumps in Discovery’s three main engines and a faulty master events controller. March 13 launch was delayed 1 hour, 50 minutes due to morning ground fog and upper atmosphere wind conditions.

Landing:

March 18, 1989 – 6:35:50 a.m. PST at Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, California. Rollout distance was 9,339 feet. Rollout time was 53 seconds. Mission duration was 4 days, 23 hours, 38 minutes, 50 seconds. Landing occurred during the 80th orbit.

Mission Summary:

NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-4 (TDRS-4) was deployed to geosynchronous orbit using an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster.

Secondary payloads included Orbiter Experiments Autonomous Supporting Instrumentation System-1 (OASIS-1), Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Experiment (SHARE), Protein Crystal Growth (PCG), Chromosomes and Plant Cell Division (CHROMEX) and two SSIP experiments.

An Air Force experiment used the Shuttle as a target to calibrate ground-based optical equipment at the Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) in Hawaii. The crew also photographed Earth with a hand-held IMAX camera.