STS-29

**STS-29**
Organization	NASA-Office of Space Flight (United States)
Mission type	Human Crew
Launch date	March 13, 1989
Launch vehicle	Space Shuttle
Launch site	Cape Canaveral, United States
COSPAR ID	1989-021A
Inclination	28.45 degrees
Experiments	Here
Alternate Names	19882
Additional Information	Here
Data Collection	Here
Payload Mass Up	17280 kg
Payload Mass Down	4482.27 kg
Orbiter	Discovery
Lift Off Mass	2,056,482.27 kg
Orbiter Weight at Liftoff	116,525.91 kg
Orbiter Weight at Landing	88,540.45 kg
Landed	Concrete runway 22 at Edwards AFB, Calif.
Orbits of Earth	79
Orbital Altitude	160 nautical miles (184 statute miles)

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[edit] Crew

Commander: Michael L. Coats
Pilot: John E. Blaha
- Payload Commander:
- Mission Specialist 1: James F. Buchli
- Mission Specialist 2: Robert C. Springer
- Mission Specialist 3: James P. Bagian

[edit] Mission

The shuttle Discovery lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center pad 39B carrying a 5-man crew, a communications satellite and 6 onboard experiments. The 28th shuttle mission, the eighth for Discovery, was commanded by Michael L. Coats and piloted by John E. Blaha. Also onboard were mission specialists James F. Buchli, Robert C. Springer and James P. Bagian. Total liftoff weight was 2,049,888 kg, 119,269 kg of which was the orbiter and cargo. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) was deployed 6 hrs, 13 mns after liftoff. With 2 TDRS's fully operational (F1 launched in April 1983; F3 in September 1988), STS 29/ground communications were uninterrupted over 85% of each orbit -- a fourfold improvement over pre-TDRS system shuttle flights. Following TDRS deployment (the mission's primary aim), the crew monitored experiments, assisted in calibration tests with the Air Force Maui Optical Site and filmed earth with an IMAX camera. One experiment, the Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Element, a test of a new cooling system, failed when the cooling medium failed to move through the 15.7-m pipe. Discovery executed 5 somersaults on mission day 5 in an attempt to get the fluid moving, to no avail. The experiment is being redesigned for future flight tests. Discovery landed on Edwards AFB runway 22 at 14:36, March 18, after 4 days, 23 hrs, 39 mns in orbit.

[edit] Payload

Deploy IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) with Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)-D; Protein Crystal Growth (PCG); Chromosome and Plant Cell Division in Space; IMAX 70mm camera; Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) experiments: SSIP 82-8, Effects of Weightlessness in Space Flight on the Healing of Bone Fractures, and SSIP 83-9, Chicken Embryo Development in Space; Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment

Mission patch: