Sep 12 1993
From The Space Library
Space Shuttle Discovery was launched on a satellite-deployment mission after two months of delays. The liftoff had been postponed five times for equipment failure, payload problems, and a meteor shower. After a short delay caused by a minor communications problem, astronauts on board success-fully deployed the $363 million Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS). The satellite could one day shrink the diameter of satellite dishes to one and one-half feet.
On September 14, after a ninety-minute delay caused by a communications problem, astronauts placed in space a second satellite, an $80 million reusable craft made by Germany. The satellite, which had an ultraviolet telescope and a spectrograph to study interstellar gas, was scheduled to be retrieved by the astronauts in six days for the trip home. On September 16, two astronauts conducted a seven-hour spacewalk to test tools needed for the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission scheduled for December; and on September 19, using a 50-foot robot arm, they retrieved an orbiting German telescope loaded with nearly a week's worth of star observations. The retrieval of the satellite was the crew's last major job. Discovery touched down at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on September 22, its return having been delayed one day because of bad weather. This was the first Shuttle landing in Florida at night. (RTW, Sep 12/93, Sep 13/93, Sep 14/93, Sep 15/93, Sep 16/93, Sep 19/93; P Inq, Sep 13/93, Sep 14/93, Sep 17/93; B Sun, Sep 13/93, Sep 14/93, Sep 17/93; NY Times, Sep 13/93, Sep 16/93, Sep 17/93; W Post, Sep 13/93, Sep 14/93, 15/93, Sep 17/93, Sep 19/93, Sep 20/93; USA Today, Sep 13/93, Sep 14/93, Sep 20/93; AP, Sep 12, Sep 14/93, Sep 15/93, Sep 16, Sep 17/93, Sep 20, Sep 22/93; UPI,Sep 12/93 Sep 13/93, Sep 14/93, Sep 16/93, Sep 17/93, Sep 19/93, Sep 22/93; RTW, Sep 22/93; W Post, Sep 23/93)
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