1988 in Space Exploration - Sts-26 (Paperback)

Chapters: Sts-26. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 26. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: STS-26 was the 26th Space Shuttle mission and the seventh flight for Discovery, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. It was the "Return to Flight" mission, being the first mission after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. This was the first mission to use the original Space Transportation System numbering system since STS-9, and the first to have all crew members wearing pressure suits for launch and landing since STS-4. STS-26 was also the first all-veteran (flown at least one prior mission) mission since Apollo 11. STS-26 launches from Kennedy Space Center, September 29, 1988.Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Pad B, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, at 11:37 a.m. EDT on September 29, 1988, 975 days after the Challenger disaster. Launch of America's return-to-flight mission was delayed for 1 hour and 38 minutes because of unseasonable and unusual light winds aloft, and to replace fuses in the cooling systems of two crew members' flight suits. The suits were repaired, and a waiver was issued for the wind conditions after officials determined there was a sufficient safety margin for wind loads on the orbiter wing leading edges. The 26th Shuttle flight was the seventh for Discovery. The primary payload for the STS-26 mission, a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), was successfully deployed, and 11 scheduled middeck scientific and technological experiments were carried out. The orbiter sustained only minor Thermal Protection System tile damage and the redesigned solid rocket boosters showed no signs of leakage or overheating at any of the joints. Two minor problems occurred during the flight. After ascent, the Flash Evaporator System for cooling the orbiter iced up and ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=497721