(LDEF) Archive System
NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton, Virginia
 |
Langley Home Page |
 |
Space Environments &Technology Archive System Home Page |
 |
Space Environments &Effects Home Page |
 |
NASA Home Page |
|
If you would like to receive further information on SETAS, or have suggestions on what information you would like to see accessible through this archive, please fill out the SETAS request form.
SETAS Request Information |
|
Responsible Parties:
Page Content: William H. Kinard Page Construction: Thomas H. See |
LDEF Deployment
The first Shuttle flight occurred in April 1981, and later that year LDEF was taken out of storage at LaRC. LDEF's original target launch date was December 1983. Pre-flight structural tests were performed at LaRC, with the inclusion of data from the now-operational Shuttle.
In June 1983, LDEF was encased in a specially constructed container, the LDEF Assembly and Transportation System (LATS), and shipped on a World War II-era landing craft to NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, where LDEF was placed in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility - 2 (SAEF-2). The launch date was set for April 1984. Beginning in November 1983, pre-launch preparations began at KSC by the LDEF project participants. Experiments were received, prepared and mounted on LDEF, and LDEF was then processed for launch at KSC's Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building. LDEF was placed in a canister and transported to the launch pad for integration into the Shuttle Challenger.
With LDEF in its bay, Challenger lifted off from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, at 8:58 am EST on April 6, 1984. Originally designated as STS 13, this eleventh Shuttle mission was subsequently identified as STS 41C under a later numbering scheme. LDEF was deployed at 12:26 pm EST on April 7, 1984, on Challenger's nineteenth orbit, over the Pacific Ocean near Wake Island. After deploying LDEF and activating the initiation of experiments with power and data systems, Challenger fired two small thrusters to change its position relative to LDEF. The initial separation rate was 0.5 foot per second, and was increased to five feet per second. Challenger completed its other mission, a capture and repair of the Solar Maximum Mission satellite, and returned to Earth on April 13 at Edwards Air Force Base.
Plans at the time of deployment were that LDEF would be retrieved by Challenger in early February 1985. This schedule slipped to late 1986 due to Shuttle manifest considerations. After Challenger was lost in January 1986, all Shuttle launches were suspended and they did not resume until September 1988.
Documentation
Mission | Experiment | Hardware | Photos | Publications
Special Investigation Groups
Atomic Oxygen | Contamination | Ionizing Radiation | Materials | Meteoroid&Debris | Solar&Thermal | Systems
Back
 | LDEF Archive System Home Page |