STS-27
Sign in to saveSTS-27 was the 27th NASA Space Shuttle mission, and the third flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Launching on December 2, 1988, on a four-day mission, it was the second shuttle flight after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of January 1986. STS-27 carried a classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), ultimately determined to be a Lacrosse surveillance satellite. The vessel's heat shielding was substantially damaged during lift-off, and crew members thought that they would die during reentry. This was a situation that was similar to the one that would prove fatal 15 years la
Key facts
- Spaceflight.name
- STS-27
- Spaceflight.names_list
- Space Transportation System-27STS-27R
- Spaceflight.image
- Atlantis taking off on STS-27.jpg
- Spaceflight.image_caption
- Launch of Atlantis
- Spaceflight.mission_type
- DoD satellite deployment
- Spaceflight.operator
- NASA
- Spaceflight.orbits_completed
- 68
- Spaceflight.launch_mass
- (Classified)
- Spaceflight.crew_size
- 5
- Spaceflight.launch_date
- UTC (9:30:34amEST)
- Spaceflight.launch_site
- Kennedy, LC-39B
- Spaceflight.launch_contractor
- Rockwell International
- Spaceflight.landing_date
- UTC (3:36:11pmPDT)
- Spaceflight.landing_site
- Edwards, Runway17
- Spaceflight.orbit_reference
- Geocentric orbit
- Spaceflight.orbit_regime
- Low Earth orbit
- Spaceflight.orbit_inclination
- 57.00°
- Spaceflight.orbit_period
- 93.40 minutes
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Duration
- 378337
- Mass
- 14500
- Orbital period
- 93.4
- Image
- Atlantis taking off on STS-27.jpg
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- STS-27
- UTC date of spacecraft launch
- 1988-12-02
- orbits completed
- 68
- UTC date of spacecraft landing
- 1988-12-06
- Commons gallery
- STS-27
- orbital inclination
- 57.0
- periapsis
- 437
- apoapsis
- 447
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Article
9 sectionsContents
- Crew
- Crew seat assignments
- Mission summary
- Tile damage
- Wake-up calls
- Gallery
- See also
- References
- External links
STS-27 was the 27th NASA Space Shuttle mission, and the third flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Launching on December 2, 1988, on a four-day mission, it was the second shuttle flight after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of January 1986. STS-27 carried a classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), ultimately determined to be a Lacrosse surveillance satellite. The vessel's heat shielding was substantially damaged during lift-off, and crew members thought that they would die during reentry. This was a situation that was similar to the one that would prove fatal 15 years later on STS-107. Compared to the damage that Columbia sustained on STS-107, Atlantis experienced more extensive damage. However, this was over less critical areas and the missing tile was over an antenna which gave extra protection to the spacecraft structure. The mission landed successfully, although intense heat damage needed to be repaired.
The mission is technically designated STS-27R, as the original STS-27 designator belonged to STS-51-I, the twentieth Space Shuttle mission. Official documentation for that mission contained the designator STS-27 throughout. As STS-51-L was designated STS-33, future flights with the STS-26 through STS-33 designators would require the R in their documentation to avoid conflicts in tracking data from one mission to another.