STS-38 was a

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

mission by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

using the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. It was the 37th shuttle mission, and carried a classified payload for the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

(DoD). It was the seventh flight for ''Atlantis'' and the seventh flight dedicated to the Department of Defense. The mission was a 4-day mission that traveled and completed 79 revolutions. ''Atlantis'' landed at

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

Shuttle Landing Facility The Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) also known as Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) is an airport located on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is a part of the Kennedy Space Center and was used by Space Shuttle for ...

's runway 33. The launch was originally scheduled for July 1990, but was rescheduled due to a hydrogen leak found on during the

STS-35 STS-35 was the tenth flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', the 38th shuttle flight, and a mission devoted to astronomical observations with ASTRO-1, a Spacelab observatory consisting of four telescopes. The mission launched from Kennedy Spac ...

countdown. During a rollback to the Orbiter Processing Facility ''Atlantis'' was damaged during a hail storm. The eventual launch date of November 15, 1990, was set due to a payload problem. The launch window was between 18:30 and 22:30 EST. The launch occurred at 18:48:13 EST.

Crew

Crew seating arrangements

Preparations and launch

The launch occurred on November 15, 1990, 18:48:13 EST. It was originally scheduled for July 9, 1990, however, a

liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen (LH2 or LH2) is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point of 33 K. However, for it to be in a fully l ...

leak found on ''Columbia'' during the

countdown prompted three precautionary tanking tests on ''Atlantis'' at the pad on June 29, 1990, on July 13, and on July 25, 1990. Tests confirmed the hydrogen fuel leak on the external tank side of the external tank/orbiter quick disconnect umbilical. This could not be repaired at the pad and ''Atlantis'' was rolled back to the VAB on August 9, 1990, demated, then transferred to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). During rollback, the vehicle remained parked outside the VAB for about a day while the ''Columbia''/STS-35 stack was transferred to the pad for launch. While outside, ''Atlantis'' suffered minor hail damage to its tiles during a thunderstorm. After repairs were made in the OPF, ''Atlantis'' was transferred to the VAB for mating on October 2, 1990. During hoisting operations, the platform beam that was to have been removed from the orbiter's aft compartment fell and caused minor damage, which was repaired. The vehicle rolled out to Pad A on October 12, 1990. The fourth mini-tanking test was performed on October 24, 1990, with no excessive hydrogen or oxygen leakage detected. During the

Flight Readiness Review In the United States military integrated acquisition lifecycle the Technical section has multiple acquisition "Technical Reviews". Technical reviews and audits assist the acquisition and the number and types are tailored to the acquisition. Over ...

(FRR), the launch date was set for November 9, 1990. The launch was reset for November 15 due to payload problems. Liftoff occurred during a classified launch window lying within a launch period extending from 18:30 to 22:30 EST on November 15, 1990.

Classified payload

According to ''

Aviation Week ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviatio ...

'', the shuttle initially entered a x orbit at an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

of 28.45° to the equator. It then executed three

orbital maneuvering system In spaceflight, an orbital maneuver (otherwise known as a burn) is the use of propulsion systems to change the orbit of a spacecraft. For spacecraft far from Earth (for example those in orbits around the Sun) an orbital maneuver is called a ' ...

(OMS) burns, the last on orbit #4. The first of these circularized the orbit at . The first classified payload was code-named USA-67, which was deployed from Atlantis' cargo bay on the seventh orbit and ignited its

rocket motor A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accordan ...

at the ascending node of the eighth orbit to place it in a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). ''Aviation Week'' reported that USA-67 was a secret

ELINT Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...

gathering satellite headed for geosynchronous orbit and launched to monitor the events during the first

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

in 1990. As a result of there being two upper stages aboard STS-38, USA-67 was originally believed to be a Magnum satellite like those deployed on

STS-51-C STS-51-C (formerly STS-10) was the 15th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the third flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. It launched on January 24, 1985, and made the fourth shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Janu ...

and

STS-33 STS-33 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' deployed a payload for the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It was the 32nd shuttle mission overall, the ninth flight of ''Discovery'', the fifth shutt ...

, which were launched via a two-stage

Inertial Upper Stage The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a two-stage, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for raising payloads from low Earth orbit to ...

(IUS). Today it is believed that USA-67 was instead a secret

Satellite Data System The Satellite Data System (SDS) is a system of United States military communications satellites. At least three generations have been used: SDS-1 from 1976 to 1987; SDS-2 from 1989 to 1996; SDS-3 from 1998 to the present. It is believed that ...

(SDS-2) military communications satellite, like those deployed on STS-28 and STS-53. It is also believed that USA-67 was not the only satellite deployed during STS-38. A publicly released image of ''Atlantis vertical stabilizer and upper aft bulkhead, similar to the one released from STS-53, confirms that the ASE (Airborne Support Equipment) for the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) was absent from this flight. An explanation is that two separate satellites were deployed, using single-stage

Payload Assist Module The Payload Assist Module (PAM) is a modular upper stage designed and built by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing), using Thiokol Star-series solid propellant rocket motors. The PAM was used with the Space Shuttle, Delta, and Titan launchers and carri ...

(PAM-D). Rumors that appear to have been substantiated by the identification of an "unknown" geostationary satellite by amateur observers insist that the second payload was a stealth satellite known as

Prowler Prowler may refer to: * "Prowler", a song by Iron Maiden from ''Iron Maiden'', 1980 * Prowler (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics superhero * ''The Prowler'' (1951 film), a film starring Van Heflin * "The Prowler" (''Australian Playhouse''), an e ...

, reportedly intended to covertly inspect other nation's geostationary satellites.Robert Windrem, NBC News: What is America's top-secret spy program?
/ref>

Landing

The mission was extended by one day due to unacceptable crosswinds at the original planned landing site of Edwards Air Force Base. Continued adverse conditions led to a decision to shift the landing to KSC. Landing occurred on November 20, 1990, 16:42:42 EST, Runway 33, at the Kennedy Space Center. The rollout distance was and rollout time was 57 seconds. STS-38 marked the first KSC landing for ''Atlantis'', and the first shuttle landing at KSC since April 1985 (the last being

STS-51-D STS-51-D was the 16th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fourth flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. The launch of STS-51-D from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, on April 12, 1985, was delayed by 55 minutes, after a boat st ...

). ''Atlantis'' weighed at landing.

Gallery

File:1990 s35-s38 Passing in the Night.jpg, ''Atlantis'' (right) and ''Columbia'' pass File:ISD highres STS038 STS038-76-68.jpg, Sunlight on the ocean File:STS-38 shuttle.jpg, Launch of STS-38

References

External links

NASA mission summary

{{Orbital launches in 1990 Space Shuttle missions Spacecraft launched in 1990 Department of Defense Space Shuttle missions