STS-27
Atlantis climbs toward orbit.
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| Mission type | Satellite deployment |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1988-106A |
| SATCAT no. | 19670 |
| Mission duration | 4 days, 9 hours, 5 minutes, 37 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 2,916,252 kilometres (1,812,075 mi) |
| Orbits completed | 68 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Atlantis |
| Payload mass | 14,500 kilograms (32,000 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 5 |
| Members |
Robert L. Gibson Guy S. Gardner Richard M. Mullane Jerry L. Ross William M. Shepherd |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 2 December 1988, 14:30:34 UTC |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39B |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 6 December 1988, 23:36:11 UTC |
| Landing site | Edwards Runway 17 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee | 437 kilometers (236 NM) |
| Apogee | 447 kilometers (241 NM) |
| Inclination | 57.0 degrees |
| Period | 93.4 min |
|
 Back row, L-R: Shepherd, Mullane. Front row, L-R: Gardner, Gibson, Ross. |
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STS-27 was the 27th NASA Space Shuttle mission, and the third flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Launching on 2 December 1988 on a four-day mission, it was the second shuttle flight after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of January 1986. STS-27 carried a classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense. The vessel's heat shielding was substantially damaged during lift-off, but it returned successfully to Earth.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104), at the time the youngest in NASA's shuttle fleet, made its third flight on a classified mission for the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It deployed a single satellite, USA-34. Recently declassified NASA archival information has identified USA-34 as Lacrosse 1, a side-looking radar, all-weather surveillance satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The mission was originally scheduled to launch on 1 December 1988, but the launch was postponed one day because of cloud cover and strong wind conditions at the launch site. Liftoff occurred from Launch Complex 39, Pad B (LC-39B) at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 2 December 1988 at 09:30 EST. Atlantis touched down on 6 December 1988 on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, at 18:35 EST. The total mission elapsed time at wheels-stop was 4 days, 9 hours and 6 minutes. Atlantis was returned to the Kennedy Space Center on 13 December and moved into an OPF on 14 December 1988.
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