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LDEF Retrieval

In 1988, it became increasingly apparent that the approaching maximum in the solar cycle would hasten LDEF's orbital decay. At the solar maximum, which occurs approximately every 12 years, the heating and expansion of the Earth's outer atmosphere would cause increased drag on LDEF.

The retrieval flight was targeted for July 1989. This date slipped to the end of 1989 and finally to January 1990. The Shuttle Columbia was launched on January 9, and on January 12, Columbia successfully captured LDEF with its extended RMS arm. Columbia approached LDEF in such a way as to minimize possible contamination to LDEF from Columbia. While LDEF was still attached to the RMS arm, an extensive 4.5 hour photo survey was performed that included photographs of each individual experiment tray, as well as larger areas.

Columbia landed at Edwards Air Force Base on January 20, 1990. Through the orbiter window, LDEF Project staff viewed and took photographs of LDEF at Edwards. With LDEF still in its bay, Columbia was ferried back to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on January 26. Special efforts were taken to ensure protection against contamination of the payload bay during the ferry flight. On January 30-31, LDEF was removed from Columbia's payload bay in KSC's Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), placed in a special payload canister, and transported to the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building. On February 1, 1990, LDEF was transported in the LDEF Assembly and Transportation System (LATS) to the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility - 2 (SAEF-2), where the LDEF Project team led deintegration activities.

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