STS-32

STS-32
Columbia retrieves the Long Duration Exposure Facility.
NamesSpace Transportation System-32
STS-32R
Mission typeSyncom IV-F5 satellite deployment
LDEF satellite retrieval
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1990-002A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.20409Edit this on Wikidata
Mission duration10 days, 21 hours, 36 seconds
Distance travelled7,258,096 km (4,509,972 mi)
Orbits completed172
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSpace Shuttle Columbia
Launch mass116,117 kg (255,994 lb)
Landing mass103,571 kg (228,335 lb)
Payload mass12,014 kg (26,486 lb)
Crew
Crew size5
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateJanuary 9, 1990, 12:35:00 (January 9, 1990, 12:35:00) UTC (7:35 am EST)
Launch siteKennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A
ContractorRockwell International
End of mission
Landing dateJanuary 20, 1990, 09:35:36 (January 20, 1990, 09:35:36) UTC (1:35:36 am PST)
Landing siteEdwards Air Force Base, Runway 22
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Perigee altitude296 km (184 mi)
Apogee altitude361 km (224 mi)
Inclination28.45°
Period91.10 minutes
Instruments
  • American Flight Echocardiograph (AFE)
  • Characterization of Neurospora Circadian Rhythms (CNCR)
  • Fluid Experiment Apparatus (FEA)
  • Latitude / Longitude Locator (L3)
  • Mesoscale Lightning Experiment (MLE)
  • Protein Crystal Growth (PCG)

STS-32 mission patch

Standing: Ivins, Low and Dunbar
Seated: Brandenstein and Wetherbee
← STS-33 (32)
STS-36 (34) →

STS-32 was the 33rd mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the ninth launch of Space Shuttle Columbia. Launched on January 9, 1990, it marked the first use of Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A since 1986; it also marked the first use of Mobile Launcher Platform-3 (MLP-3) in the Space Shuttle program. STS-32 was, at the time, the longest shuttle mission yet conducted, with a duration of nearly 11 days. Before STS-32, the only mission of the same duration had been STS-9 in 1983. On January 20, 1990, STS-32 executed the third night landing of the shuttle program. STS-32 was also the first Shuttle mission of the 1990s.

The mission was technically designated STS-32R, as the original STS-32 designator had been used internally for STS-61-C, the 24th Space Shuttle mission. Official documentation and flight paperwork for that mission had contained the designator STS-32 throughout. Flights with the STS-26 through STS-33 designators used the R in their documentation to avoid conflicts in tracking data from one mission to another.[1]

  1. ^ Jenkins, Dennis (2013). Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon 1972-2013 (1st ed.). Volume III: Specialty Press. p. 144. ISBN 9781580072496.