STS-33
Liftoff of STS-33.
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| Mission type | Satellite deployment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | NASA | ||||
| COSPAR ID | 1989-090A | ||||
| SATCAT № | 20329 | ||||
| Mission duration | 5 days, 6 minutes, 46 seconds | ||||
| Distance travelled | 3,400,000 kilometres (2,100,000 mi) | ||||
| Orbits completed | 79 | ||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Discovery | ||||
| Payload mass | 21,000 kilograms (46,000 lb) | ||||
| Crew | |||||
| Crew size | 5 | ||||
| Members |
Frederick D. Gregory John E. Blaha Manley L. Carter, Jr. F. Story Musgrave Kathryn C. Thornton |
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| Start of mission | |||||
| Launch date | 23 November 1989, 00:23:30 UTC | ||||
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39B | ||||
| End of mission | |||||
| Landing date | 28 November 1989, 00:30:16 UTC | ||||
| Landing site | Edwards Runway 4 | ||||
| Orbital parameters | |||||
| Reference system | Geocentric | ||||
| Regime | Low Earth | ||||
| Perigee | 519 kilometres (322 mi) | ||||
| Apogee | 519 kilometres (322 mi) | ||||
| Inclination | 28.45 degrees | ||||
| Period | 88.7 min | ||||
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Back row, L-R: Carter and Blaha. Front row, L-R: Thornton, Gregory, Musgrave.
STS-33 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Discovery deployed a payload for the United States Department of Defense (DoD). STS-33 was the 32nd shuttle mission overall, the ninth flight of Discovery, and the fifth shuttle mission in support of the DoD. Due to the nature of the mission, specific details remain classified. Discovery lifted off from Pad B, Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, on 22 November 1989 at 7:23 pm EST; it landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 28 November.
STS-33 was the original designation for the mission that became STS-51-L, the disastrous final flight of Space Shuttle Challenger. After Challenger's destruction, NASA recycled the mission numbering system back to STS-26, which was the 26th shuttle mission and the first to fly after the disaster.
S. David Griggs, a veteran of STS 51-D, was to have been the pilot of this mission. He was killed in the crash of a vintage World War II aircraft in June 1989 while training to serve as pilot on STS-33, and is commemorated on the mission insignia with a single gold star on the blue field. He was replaced by John Blaha. Sonny Carter, a Mission Specialist on this flight, was killed in a commercial plane crash on 5 April 1991 while training to fly on STS-42.
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