STS-43

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

15:01:59

Friday August 2, 1991

Watch Replay

Official Livestream

Mission Details

STS-43

Wiki

The primary payload, Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-5 (TDRS-5 or TDRS-E), attached to an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), was deployed about six hours into flight, and the IUS propelled the satellite into geosynchronous orbit. TDRS-5 became the fourth member of the orbiting TDRS cluster. Secondary payloads were Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Element II (SHARE II); Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultra-Violet (SSBUV) instrument; Tank Pressure Control Equipment (TPCE) and Optical Communications Through Windows (OCTW). Other experiments included Auroral Photography Experiment (APE-B) Protein Crystal Growth Ill (PCG Ill); Bioserve / Instrumentation Technology Associates Materials Dispersion Apparatus (BIMDA); Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP); Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS); Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE); Ultraviolet Plume imager (UVPI); and the Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

Low Earth Orbit

21,067 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Space Shuttle Atlantis

Active 1985 to 2011

National Aeronautics and Space Administration logo

Agency

NASA

Price

$450.00 million

Rocket

Height: 56.1m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 27,500 kg

GTO: 3,810 kg

Liftoff Thrust

30,250 Kilonewtons

Stages

2

Strap-ons

2

Launch Site

LC-39A

Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA

Fastest Turnaround

5 days 6 hours

Stats

Space Shuttle


42nd

Mission

4th

Mission of 1991

1991


56th

Orbital launch attempt