NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION STS-41D PRESS KIT AUGUST 1984 FIRST FLIGHT OF DISCOVERY SBS-4, LEASAT-2, TELSTAR-3 DEPLOYMENT; OAST-1 Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 1 STS-41D INSIGNIA S84-26391 -- The insignia for the STS-41D mission features the Discovery, NASA's third orbital vehicle, as it makes its maiden voyage. The ghost ship represents the orbiter's namesakes which have figured prominently in the history of exploration. The space shuttle Discovery heads for new horizons to extend that proud tradition. The NASA insignia design for space shuttle flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the form of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which we do not anticipate, it will be publicly announced. PHOTO CREDIT: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 2 RELEASE NO: 8 4 - 117 August 1984 CONTACTS Charles Redmond/Debra Rahn Headquarters, Washington, D.C. (Phone: 202/453-8590) Dick Young Kennedy Space Center, Fla. (Phone: 305/867-2468) Dave Alter Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas (Phone: 713/483-5111) Bob Ruhl Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. (Phone: 205/453-0034) Ralph Jackson Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, Calif. (Phone: 805/258-8381) Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 3 RELEASE NO: 8 4 - 117 August 1984 CONTENTS GENERAL RELEASE 5 41-D BRIEFING SCHEDULE 7 GENERAL INFORMATION 8 MISSION 41-D REMANIFEST -- QUICK LOOK FACTS 9 SUMMARY OF MAJOR ACTIVITIES 10 41-D REMANIFEST SEQUENCE OF EVENTS 12 CONFIGURATION AND WEIGHTS 13 SBS-4 15 LEASAT 2 (Syncom IV-2) 16 TELSTAR 3 18 OAST-1 19 Solar Array Experiment 22 Dynamic Augmentation Experiment 23 Solar Cell Calibration Facility 23 OAST-1 Team 23 CONTINUOS FLOW ELECTROPHORESIS SYSTEM 25 VEHICLE GLOW EXPERIMENT 27 CLOUDS 27 IMAX 27 SHUTTLE STUDENT INVOLVEMENT PROJECT 28 41-D FLIGHT CREW DATA 29 Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 4 RELEASE NO: 8 4 - 117 August 20, 1984 DISCOVERY TO MAKE MAIDEN FLIGHT ON MISSION 41-D Spaceship Discovery, the newest addition to NASA's fleet of reusable orbiters, will be launched on its maiden flight on mission 41-D, the 12th flight in the Space Shuttle program. Launch is set for no sooner than Aug. 29 during a 14-minute launch window that opens at 8:35 a.m. EDT. The mission features a combination cargo that includes some of the payloads originally manifested to fly on Mission 41-D and some of the payload elements that were slated to fly on Discovery’s second mission, 41-F. The decision to remanifest followed the aborted launch of Discovery on June 26, and provides for the minimum distortion to the launch schedule while maintaining NASA's launch commitments to commercial cargo customers. Cargo bay payloads on the combined mission include: LEASAT-2 (SYNCOM IV-2) for Hughes Communications Services, Inc.; SBS-4 for Satellite Business Systems; TELSTAR 3 for American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T); and OAST-1 for NASA's office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST). The three commercial communications satellites were originally scheduled to fly on Mission 41-F. The OAST-1 payload was retained from the original 41-D flight. To accommodate the combined mission, several payloads had to be dropped from the cargo bay roster, including the LEASAT-1 (SYNCOM IV-1) satellite, the Large Format Camera, the Cinema-360 special camera and one Getaway Special canister. Experiments located in Discovery's crew compartment remain the same for this combined mission. They are the commercial Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES), an IMAX special motion picture camera and a Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) experiment. Veteran Shuttle astronaut Henry Hartsfield is the commander of the six-member crew. Hartsfield was the pilot on STS-4, the last of the Shuttle test flights. He will be joined by pilot Michael Coats, and three mission specialists: Judith Resnik, Steven Hawley and Richard Mullane. McDonnell Douglas engineer Charles Walker will serve as a payload specialist on the 41-D mission. He will be responsible for operating the CFES onboard experiments and is the first commercial payload specialist. Discovery will be launched from Kennedy Space Center's Pad A at Complex 39 into a circular 184-statute-mile orbit with an inclination to the equator of 28.5 degrees. Activities during the crew’s first day in space will include activation of the OAST-l solar cell wing experiment and deployment of the SBS-4 commercial communications satellite. About 45 minutes after deployment, the satellite will fire its Payload Assist Module (PAM-D) boost motor to place the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Highlights on the second day of the mission will include the deployment into orbit of LEASAT-2, the first in a series of LEASAT (for LEAsed SATellite) spacecraft. Also known as SYNCOM IV-2, the satellite represents a new type of spacecraft designed specifically for launch from the Space Shuttle. Deployment of LEASAT-2 is scheduled to take place a little more than 24 hours after launch, during the 18th orbit. Equipped with its own unique upper stage, LEASAT-2 will fire a solid propellant rocket motor, 45 minutes after it is sprung out of the cargo bay, to inject it into an egg-shaped transfer orbit. Liquid-fueled engines will be used to progressively raise the transfer orbit altitude until the 1,315 kilograms (2,900 pounds) spacecraft is in its final geosynchronous orbit. LEASAT-2 is being flown before LEASAT-1 at the request of Hughes Communications Services, Inc. LEASAT-1 has been placed on the manifest for reflight on mission 51-A. Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 5 Flight day three will complete the satellite deployment triple play with ejection of the TELSTAR 3 spacecraft and its PAM-D boost stage. Both the TELSTAR 3 and the SBS-4 satellite utilize the Hughes 376 spacecraft and are, therefore, nearly identical from an outward appearance. For deployment of the TELSTAR 3 satellite, the flight crew will follow deployment and separation maneuver procedures similar to those used to release the SBS-4 satellite on the first day of the mission. Also tucked inside Discovery's cargo bay on mission 41-D is a versatile, NASA-developed Mission Peculiar Experiment Support Structure (MPESS). The triangular-shaped assembly serves as the mounting structure for the three OAST-1 experiments. The most distinguishing feature of the OAST-1 payload is a collapsible solar wing that will be unfolded to its fully extended height of 32 meters (102 feet). other OAST-1 experiments will measure deflections and bending motions on the fully deployed solar wing, and gather solar cell performance data. Flight days three and four will be mostly spent working with the OAST-l payload, including experimentation with both the Solar Cell Calibration Facility (SCCF) and the large solar array. Day six will feature checkout of the orbiter's flight control system, final OAST-1 activities and an orbital news conference with the crew. Day seven will be entry day. The deorbit burn will be performed on orbit 96. Discovery is scheduled to end its maiden flight in the first portion of orbit 97 with a lakebed landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Touchdown on prime runway 17 is planned to occur at approximately 144 hours and 57 minutes mission elapsed time. (END OF GENERAL RELEASE; BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOLLOWS.) Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 6 41-D BRIEFING SCHEDULE TI ME BRIEFING ORIGIN T-1 Day 9:00 a.m. EDT SBS-4 KSC 9:30 a.m. EDT LEASAT (SYNCOM IV) -2 KSC 10:00 a.m. EDT AT&T TELSTAR 3 KSC 10:30 a.m. EDT OAST-l KSC 11:00 a.m. EDT CFES KSC 1:30 p.m. EDT Prelaunch Press Conference KSC (Although SSIP experimenter Shawn Murphy will not be briefing again, he will be available for interviews at KSC on T-1.) Launch Day 9:45 a.m. EDT (approximately) Post Launch Press Conference KSC (local only) Launch Through End- of - Mission Times announced an NASA Select Flight Director Change of Shift Briefings JSC T+3 Days 3:00 p.m. EDT (approximately) 41-G Flight Director Briefing JSC T+4 Days 7:23 a.m. EDT Inflight Press Conference JSC 3:00 p.m. EDT (approximately) 41-G Crew Briefing (followed by round robins) Landi ng Day 9:35 am. EDT (approximately) Post Landing Briefing DFRF Landi ng+1 Day 1:00 p.m. EDT Orbiter Status DFRF Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 7 GENERAL INFORMATION NASA Sel ect Tel evi si on Transmissi on The schedule for television transmissions from Discovery and for the change of shift briefings from the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, Texas, will be available during the mission at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla.; Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, Ala.; and NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. The television schedule will be updated daily to reflect any changes dictated by mission operations. St at us Report s Status reports on countdown progress, mission progress, on-orbit activities and landing operations will be produced by the appropriate NASA news center. Br i e f i ng s Flight control personnel will be on eight-hour shifts. Change-of-shift briefings by the off-going flight director will occur at approximately eight-hour intervals.