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Launch Success
Liftoff Time (GMT)
15:01:59
Friday August 2, 1991
Watch Replay
Official Livestream
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
Agency
NASAPrice
$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
42nd
Mission
4th
Mission of 1991
56th
Orbital launch attempt