 LDEF, shortly before deployment, flies on the RMS arm of Space Shuttle Challenger over Baja California. | |
| Mission type | Materials research |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1984-034B |
| SATCAT no. | 14898 |
| Website | crgis |
| Mission duration | 2076 days |
| Distance travelled | 1,374,052,506 km (853,796,644 mi) |
| Orbits completed | 32,422 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Langley |
| Launch mass | 9,724 kg (21,438 lb)[1] |
| Dry mass | 3,629 kg (8,001 lb)[1] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | April 6, 1984, 13:58:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Space Shuttle Challenger STS-41-C |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39A |
| End of mission | |
| Recovered by | Space Shuttle Columbia STS-32 |
| Recovery date | January 12, 1990, 15:16 UTC |
| Landing date | January 20, 1990, 09:35:37 UTC |
| Landing site | Edwards Runway 22 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Eccentricity | 7.29E-4 |
| Perigee altitude | 473.0 km (293.9 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 483.0 km (300.1 mi) |
| Inclination | 28.5 degrees |
| Period | 94.2 minutes |
NASA's Long Duration Exposure Facility, or LDEF (pronounced "eldef"), was a cylindrical facility designed to provide long-term experimental data on the outer space environment and its effects on space systems, materials, operations and selected spores' survival.[2][3] It was placed in low Earth orbit by Space Shuttle Challenger in April 1984. The original plan called for the LDEF to be retrieved in March 1985, but after a series of delays it was eventually returned to Earth by Columbia in January 1990.[3]
It successfully carried science and technology experiments for about 5.7 years that have revealed a broad and detailed collection of space environmental data. LDEF's 69 months in space provided scientific data on the long-term effects of space exposure on materials, components and systems that has benefited NASA spacecraft designers to this day.[4]
- ^ a b "Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF)". NASA.
- ^ "The Long Duration Exposure Facility". NASA. Langley Research Center. Archived from the original on 2013-10-31. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
- ^ a b Allen, Carlton. "Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF)". NASA. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
retrievalwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).