Jan 27 1985
From The Space Library
The first military mission of the Space Shuttle ended the afternoon of January 27 when Discovery landed, in excellent condition with only minor damage to a dozen heat protection tiles, at KSC surrounded by the same secrecy in which the mission had begun, the Washington Times reported. The five-man crew had blown bosuns' whistles and rung ships' bells in greeting to flight controllers; however, in keeping with the flight's secrecy, the public did not hear the salute.
During the flight, a $50 million rocket booster called IUS, which had failed on its only previous Space Shuttle assignment, had successfully propelled a satellite from the Space Shuttle's low-earth orbit to a listening post 22,300 miles high. NASA would use the IUS on its next flight, scheduled for February 20, to boost a communications satellite to a 22,300-mile high orbit.
Discovery's return was a surprise, as observers had believed it would stay up another day, possibly two. NASA had ordered the ship home early, apparently because weather conditions for a KSC landing had deteriorated.
Sources reported the crew had released a spy satellite during the first 10 hours of the mission. The Air Force said only that the rocket carrying the Space Shuttle's cargo to higher orbit "successfully met its mission objectives" and would not confirm reports that the cargo was an advanced spy satellite, first of a new generation capable of intercepting radio, radio-telephone, and digital communications from ground and space, or the satellite's orbit parameters.
Four private planes had violated the security zone around KSC during preparations for Discovery's landing, the Washington Post reported the Air Force as saying, the 8th time in 15 Space Shuttle missions that planes had violated restricted airspace during launch or landing. The Federal Aviation Administration had suspended the flying licenses of some violators for up to 90 days because of dangers posed by intruding pilots. The problem had grown so serious that the Air Force had improved the security zone around KSC. (W Post, Jan 28/85, Al, A3, A9; W Times, Jan 28/85, 3A, Jan 29/85, 4A)
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