"6_2_2_16_2.TXT" (3714 bytes) was created on 12-01-88 STS-27 ATLANTIS The newest of NASA'S fleet of Space Shuttle orbiters, Atlantis (OV-104), will make its third flight on Dec. 1, 1988, on STS-27, a classified mission for the Department of Defense. It will be the second Shuttle flight since the 51-L accident in January 1986 and the first of three national security missions to be conducted in fiscal year 1989 by NASA for the Defense Department. STS-27 will have a five-member crew. All are military personnel, and three are veterans of previous Shuttle flights. STS-27 Mission Commander Robert L. Gibson (Cdr., USN) was pilot on STS 41-B in February 1984 and commander on 61-C in January 1986. Mission Specialists Richard M. Mullane (Col., USAF) and Jerry L. Ross (Lt. Col., USAF) flew on 41-D in August 1984 and 61-B in November 1985, respectively. STS-27 will be the first space flight for Pilot Guy S. Gardner (Lt. Col., USAF) and Mission Specialist William M. Shepherd (Cdr., USN). Atlantis will be launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39, Pad B. Because STS-27 is a national security mission, details about the flight and payload are classified. The Shuttle orbiter is launched into space like a conventional rocket, but it returns to Earth like an unpowered glider. The orbiter and two solid rocket boosters -- extensively redesigned since 51-L-- are mated to an external propellant tank in a vertical, or nose-up, configuration for launch. Following liftoff from the pad, the boosters will continue to burn for a little more than two minutes, providing some 3.3 million pounds of thrust apiece. The jettisoned SRBs are recovered for refurbishment and use on later flights. The orbiter's three main engines burn about six more minutes after SRB separation. After main engine cutoff, the external tank is jettisoned and disintegrates upon reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. The planned end-of-mission landing site for STS-27 is Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Nineteen of 26 Shuttle missions have ended on the 64-square-mile Rogers Dry Lake bed at Edwards, near the western end of the Mojave Desert. Nominal touchdown speed ranges from 184 to 196 knots (213 to 226 miles per hour). After landing, Atlantis will be safed and towed to a deservice area at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards. Turnaround of the orbiter will be accomplished by a KSC recovery team of NASA and contractor workers, aided by Department of Defense personnel. Atlantis will be ferried back to KSC atop the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. After demating at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility, the orbiter will be towed to the Orbiter Processing Facility for final deservicing and preparation for its next mission, STS-30 in April 1989, when it is scheduled to loft the Magellan spacecraft on its journey to map the surface of Venus. Atlantis also is scheduled for the STS-34 mission in October 1989, to send the Galileo spacecraft on its long journey to explore Jupiter and its satellites. Ordered under a January 1979 contract between NASA and orbiter prime manufacturer Rockwell International, Atlantis was delivered to KSC in April 1985. Like its two sister orbiters Discovery and Columbia, Atlantis is named for a famous sailing ship. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, a research facility, operated a two-masted ketch named Atlantis that traversed more than half a million miles of the Earth's surface between 1930 and 1966. Atlantis has flown twice before: 51-J in October 1985, a classified Department of Defense Mission; and 61-B in November 1985, during which three satellites were deployed and two extravehicular exercises were conducted by the crew. "6_2_2_16_3.TXT" (538 bytes) was created on 12-03-88 Mission Control Center Status Report December 2, 1988 This is Mission Control Houston at 4 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds mission elapsed time in the flight of STS-27. The crew of Atlantis has been given a go for orbit operations by the Mission Control Center. The Atlantis crewmembers are doing well and all systems of the Orbiter are performing satisfactorily. This concludes our launch phase real time commentary from the Mission Control Center at 4 hours, 4 minutes mission elapsed time. This is Mission Control Houston. "6_2_2_16_4.TXT" (762 bytes) was created on 12-05-88 Statement from Royce Mitchell, SRM Project Manager "STS-27 Solid Rocket Booster recovery operations went smoothly despite seas of 8 to 10 feet. Both boosters were at Hangar AF* by late Saturday evening. "Detailed external examination shows the boosters to be in excellent shape. The field joint thermal protection system is in good shape, also. The parachutes functioned normally with little apparent damage. "Personnel will be entering the boosters on Monday for internal inspections. We expect the first joint disassembly operations to begin in the next couple of days." * Note: Hangar AF is the location of NASA's Solid Rocket Booster Disassembly Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. SOURCE: Royce Mitchell 12/4/88 "6_2_2_16_5.TXT" (487 bytes) was created on 12-07-88 STS-27 LANDING STATEMENT NASA and the U.S. Air Force have announced that all systems on board the Orbiter Atlantis continue to perform satisfactorily. The left inboard main landing gear tire pressure is not a concern for landing. The STS-27 crew is doing well and is beginning landing preparations. Atlantis is scheduled to land Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 5:36 p.m. Central Standard Time on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Weather forecast for landing is favorable. "6_2_2_16_6.TXT" (2717 bytes) was created on 12-07-88 ATLANTIS STATUS REPORT - WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7, 1988 DRYDEN FLIGHT RESEARCH FACILITY, EDWARDS, CALIF. Atlantis touched down on Runway 17 yesterday at 3:35 p.m. (PST) completing mission STS-27. Total mission elapsed time was 4 days, 9 hours, 6 minutes and 19 seconds (wheels stop). Preliminary measurements indicate Atlantis' right main gear touched down at the 1,469 foot mark, the left main gear touched down at the 1,501 foot mark and the nose gear touched down at the 4,423 foot mark on the runway. Preliminary rollout distance is 7,138 feet. The five member flight crew departed Dryden about 8 p.m. last night and flew to Houston in a Shuttle Training Aircraft. Workers began towing Atlantis from the lakebed runway to the Mate Demate Device at 8:30 p.m. last night. By 10:55 p.m., Atlantis was at the Mate Demate Device where technicians have been preparing the vehicle for its return trip to the Kennedy Space Center. Engineers performed an initial inspection of the thermal protection system last night when the vehicle was still on the runway. The tiles on the orbiter's forward right hand side (from the nose landing gear door area to just forward of the wing) sustained some damage. Some tiles will have to be removed prior to Atlantis' next flight and others will be repaired. One tile near the nose landing gear door area is missing and one fiberglass carrier panel on the right hand orbital maneuvering system pod is missing. This panel, located on the mid-lower outboard side of the right pod, covers an area where the pod is attached to the orbiter's fuselage. A thorough inspection of the tiles will be performed today. The brakes were removed and will be shipped to the vendor for inspection. The left hand tires were removed and will be leak checked here at Dryden before being shipped to the vendor for analysis. Tire pressure readings will be recorded after the tire temperature has stabilized over a period of time. Other activities scheduled today include offloading the residual liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen reactants from the power reactant storage and distribution system, removing flight crew equipment and preparations to purge the main engines. Pending the completion of scheduled work and favorable weather conditions, the ferry flight journey is expected to begin Sunday, Dec. 11. The first leg of the journey will be from Dryden to Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Because daylight is shorter this time of year, the 747 and Atlantis will remain overnight at Kelly and begin the second leg of the flight early the next day. # # # # "6_2_2_16_7.TXT" (1300 bytes) was created on 07-24-90 STS-27 Mission Summary The Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104), the youngest in NASA's fleet, made its third flight in a classified mission for the Department of Defense (DoD). The Dec. 2, 1988 mission also was the third dedicated to the DoD. It was the 27th Space Shuttle mission. Launch was originally scheduled Dec. 1, but was postponed one day because of cloud cover and strong wind conditions. Liftoff from Pad B, Launch Complex 39, KSC, on Dec. 2 was at 9:30 a.m. EST. The Orbiter Atlantis touched down Dec. 6 at Runway 17, Edwards AFB, CA, at 6:35 p.m. EST. The total mission elapsed time (wheels stop) was 4 days, 9 hours and 6 minutes. The orbiter's Thermal Protection System tiles sustained more-than-normal damage during the flight. A review panel investigating the damage found that the most probable cause was ablative insulating material from the right-hand solid rocket booster nose cap hitting the orbiter about 85 seconds into the flight. Also, one of the main engines' turbopumps was found to be cracked after the flight. Crew. Crew members, all military personnel, were Commander Robert L. "Hoot" Gibson, Pilot Guy S. Gardner, and Mission Specialists Richard M. Mullane, Jerry L. Ross, and William M. Shepherd. Gardner and Shepherd were making their first flight.