STS-38 was a

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, 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. ...

mission by

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

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

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...

payload for the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, t ...

(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 NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

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

'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 mission. It was devoted to astronomical observations with ASTRO-1, a Spacelab observatory consisting of four telescopes. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Cent ...

countdown. During a rollback to the

Orbiter Processing Facility Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) is a class of hangars where U.S. Space Shuttle orbiters underwent maintenance between flights. They are located west of the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the orbiter was mated with its external tank and Space ...

''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. The mission ended with a landing at the

, marking the first time in five years that a mission returned to the Kennedy Space Center since

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 ...

. This also marked the first time Atlantis ended a mission at the Kennedy Space Center.

Crew

Crew seat assignments

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 () is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecule, molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point (thermodynamics), critical point of 33 Kelvins, ...

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

(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 (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, a division of Informa. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aeros ...

'', 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 The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

. 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, an orbital maneuver is called a ''deep-space maneuver (DSM)''. When a spacec ...

(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 is a reaction engine, producing thrust in accordance with Newton's third law by ejecting reaction mass rearward, usually a high-speed jet of high-temperature gas produced by the combustion of rocket propellants stored inside t ...

at the ascending node of the eighth orbit to place it in a

geostationary transfer orbit In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit ...

(GTO). ''Aviation Week'' reported that USA-67 was a secret

ELINT Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

gathering satellite headed for

geosynchronous orbit A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...

and launched to monitor the events during the first

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

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 and STS-33, which were launched via a two-stage

Inertial Upper Stage The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a Multistage rocket, two-stage, Solid-propellant rocket, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for ...

(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 STS-28 was the 30th NASA Space Shuttle program, Space Shuttle mission, the fourth shuttle mission dedicated to United States Department of Defense (DoD) purposes, and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. The ...

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 (Boeing), using Thiokol Star-series solid propellant rocket motors. The PAM was used with the Space Shuttle, Delta, and Titan launchers and carried ...

(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, reportedly intended to covertly inspect other nation's geostationary satellites.

Landing

The mission was extended by one day due to unacceptable crosswinds at the planned landing site of

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

. Continued adverse conditions led to a decision to shift the landing to the

(SLF) at the Kennedy Space Center. The SLF had not been used by a returning shuttle mission in five years, since

when ''Discovery'' suffered extensive brake damage and a ruptured tire during landing. Landing occurred on November 20, 1990, at 21:42:46UTC (4:42:42pmEST, local time). The orbiter rolled down Runway 33 for and 57 seconds. STS-38 marked the first KSC landing for ''Atlantis'', weighing 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