View source for STS-28

{{Short description|1989 American crewed spaceflight for the Department of Defense}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name               = STS-28
| names_list         = [[Space Transportation System]]-28<br />STS-28R
| image              = SILTS Image.jpg
| image_caption      = Infrared view of ''Columbia''{{'}}s left wing during reentry, photographed by the SILTS experiment.
| mission_type       = [[United States Department of Defense|DoD]] satellites deployment
| operator           = [[NASA]]
| mission_duration   = {{time interval|August 8, 1989, 12:37:00|August 13, 1989, 13:37:08|show=dhms|sep=,}}
| distance_travelled = {{cvt|3400000|km}}
| orbits_completed   = 81
| spacecraft         = {{OV|102}}
| launch_mass        = 
| landing_mass       = {{cvt|90816|kg}}
| payload_mass       = {{cvt|19600|kg}}
| crew_size          = 5
| crew_members       = {{Unbulleted list|[[Brewster H. Shaw]]|[[Richard N. Richards]]|[[James C. Adamson]]|[[David Leestma]]|[[Mark N. Brown]]}}
| launch_date        = {{Start date text|August 8, 1989, 12:37:00|timezone=yes}}{{nbsp}}[[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]] (8:37{{nbsp}}am{{nbsp}}[[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]])
| launch_site        = [[Kennedy Space Center|Kennedy]], [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B|LC-39B]]
| launch_contractor  = [[Rockwell International]]
| landing_date       = {{End date text|August 13, 1989, 13:37:08|timezone=yes}}{{nbsp}}UTC (6:37:08{{nbsp}}am{{nbsp}}[[Pacific Daylight Time|PDT]])
| landing_site       = [[Edwards Air Force Base|Edwards]], Runway{{nbsp}}17
| orbit_reference    = [[Geocentric orbit]]
| orbit_regime       = [[Low Earth orbit]]
| orbit_periapsis    = {{cvt|289|km}}
| orbit_apoapsis     = {{cvt|306|km}}
| orbit_inclination  = 57.00°
| orbit_period       = 90.50 minutes
| apsis              = gee
| instruments        = {{ubl|In-flight Radiation Dose Distribution (IDRD)|Shuttle Lee-side Temperature Sensing (SILTS)}}
| insignia           = Sts-28-patch.png
| insignia_caption   = STS-28 mission patch
| crew_photo         = Sts-28 crew.jpg
| crew_photo_caption = Standing: [[Mark N. Brown|Brown]] and [[James C. Adamson|Adamson]]<br />Seated: [[Richard N. Richards|Richards]], [[Brewster H. Shaw|Shaw]] and [[David Leestma|Leestma]]
| programme          = [[Space Shuttle program]]
| previous_mission   = [[STS-30]] (29)
| next_mission       = [[STS-34]] (31)
}}

'''STS-28''' was the 30th [[NASA]] [[Space Shuttle program|Space Shuttle]] mission, the fourth shuttle mission dedicated to [[United States Department of Defense]] (DoD) purposes, and the eighth flight of [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'']]. The mission launched on August 8, 1989, and traveled {{cvt|3400000|km}} during 81 orbits of the [[Earth]], before landing on runway 17 of [[Edwards Air Force Base]], [[California]], on August 13, 1989. STS-28 was also ''Columbia''{{'}}s first flight since January 1986, when it had flown [[STS-61-C]], the mission directly preceding the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|''Challenger'' disaster]] of [[STS-51-L]]. The mission details of STS-28 are [[classified information in the United States|classified]], but the payload is widely believed to have been the first [[SDS-2]] relay [[communications satellite]]. The altitude of the mission was between {{cvt|295|km}} and {{cvt|307|km}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.space-track.org/basicspacedata/query/class/satcat/intldes/1989-061A/current/y/format/html/emptyresult/show|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150204091148/https://www.space-track.org/basicspacedata/query/class/satcat/intldes/1989-061A/current/y/format/html/emptyresult/show|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 4, 2015|title=STS-28 payload|access-date=February 3, 2015}}</ref>

The mission was officially designated '''STS-28R''' as the original STS-28 designator belonged to [[STS-51-J]], the 21st Space Shuttle mission. Official documentation for that mission contained the designator STS-28 throughout. As [[STS-51-L]] was designated STS-33, future flights with the [[STS-26]] through [[STS-33]] designators would require the '''R''' in their documentation to avoid conflicts in tracking data from one mission to another.

== Crew ==
{{Spaceflight crew
| terminology = Astronaut
| position1   = Commander
| crew1_up    = [[Brewster H. Shaw]]
| flights1_up = Third and last
| position2   = Pilot
| crew2_up    = [[Richard N. Richards]]
| flights2_up = First
| position3   = Mission Specialist 1
| crew3_up    = [[James C. Adamson]]
| flights3_up = First
| position4   = Mission Specialist 2<br />Flight Engineer
| crew4_up    = [[David Leestma]]
| flights4_up = Second
| position5   = Mission Specialist 3
| crew5_up    = [[Mark N. Brown]]
| flights5_up = First
}}

=== Crew seat assignments ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Seat<ref>{{cite web|title=STS-28|url=http://spacefacts.de/mission/english/sts-28.htm|publisher=Spacefacts|access-date=February 26, 2014}}</ref>
! Launch
! Landing
|rowspan=8| [[File:Space Shuttle seating plan.svg|150px]]<br />Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.<br />Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
|-
! 1
|colspan=2| Shaw
|-
! 2
|colspan=2| Richards
|-
! 3
| Adamson
| Brown
|-
! 4
|colspan=2| Leestma
|-
! 5
| Brown
| Adamson
|-
! 6
|colspan=2 style="background-color:lightgray"| ''Unused''
|-
! 7
|colspan=2 style="background-color:lightgray"| ''Unused''
|}

== Mission summary ==
[[File:1989 s28 Liftoff.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|left|Launch of STS-28]]
[[File:Space Shuttle Columbia lands following STS-28 in 1989.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|STS-28 landing]]

Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' (OV-102) lifted off from Pad 39B, Launch Complex 39 at [[Kennedy Space Center]], [[Florida]], on August 8, 1989. The launch took place at 8:37:00 a.m. [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]].

During STS-28, ''Columbia'' deployed two satellites: [[List of USA satellites|USA-40]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1989-061B|title=1989-061B |publisher=NASA|access-date=March 27, 2010}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> and [[List of USA satellites|USA-41]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1989-061C |title=1989-061C |publisher=National Space Science Data Center|access-date=March 27, 2010}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> Early reports speculated that STS-28's primary payload was an Advanced [[KH-11 KENNEN|KH-11 photo-reconnaissance satellite]]. Later reports, and amateur satellite observations, suggest that USA-40 was instead a second-generation [[Satellite Data System]] (SDS) relay,<ref name="cassutt200908">{{cite news |url=http://www.airspacemag.com/space/secret-space-shuttles-35318554/?all|title=Secret Space Shuttles|publisher=Air & Space magazine|date=August 2009|access-date=April 19, 2015|author=Cassutt, Michael}}</ref> similar to those likely launched on [[STS-38]] and [[STS-53]]. These satellites had the same bus design as the [[Syncom|LEASAT]] satellites deployed on other shuttle missions, and were likely deployed in the same fashion.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

The mission marked the first flight of a {{cvt|5|kg}} [[human skull]], which served as the primary element of "Detailed Secondary Objective 469", also known as the In-flight Radiation Dose Distribution (IDRD) experiment. This joint NASA/DoD experiment was designed to examine the penetration of [[radiation]] into the human cranium during spaceflight. The female skull was seated in a plastic matrix, representative of tissue, and sliced into ten layers. Hundreds of [[Thermoluminescence|thermoluminescent]] [[dosimeters]] were mounted in the skull's layers to record radiation levels at multiple depths. This experiment, which also flew on [[STS-36]] and [[STS-31]], was located in the shuttle's mid-deck lockers on all three flights, recording radiation levels at different [[orbital inclination]]s.<ref>Macknight, Nigel, Space Year 1991, p. 41 {{ISBN|0-87938-482-4}}</ref>

During the flight, the crew shut down a thruster in the [[reaction control system]] (RCS) after receiving indications of a leak. An RCS heater also malfunctioned during the flight. Post-flight analysis of STS-28 discovered unusual heating of the [[Space Shuttle thermal protection system|thermal protection system]] (TPS) during re-entry, caused by an early transition to turbulent [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]] flow around the vehicle. A detailed report identified protruding gap filler as the likely cause.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/news/columbia/sts28r_earlyboundary.pdf|title=STS-28R – Early Boundary Layer Transition|access-date=March 27, 2010}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> This filler material was the same material that was removed during a [[Extravehicular activity|spacewalk]] during [[STS-114]], the Space Shuttle's post-[[Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|''Columbia'' disaster]] Return to Flight mission, in 2005.

The Shuttle Lee-side Temperature Sensing (SILTS) [[infrared]] camera package made its second flight aboard ''Columbia'' on this mission. The cylindrical pod and surrounding black tiles on the orbiter's vertical stabilizer housed an imaging system, designed to map thermodynamic conditions during reentry, on the surfaces visible from the top of the tail fin. The SILTS system was used for only six missions before being deactivated, but the pod remained for the duration of ''Columbia''{{'}}s career.<ref>[http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/comm/inst/silts.ht Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing]{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> ''Columbia's'' thermal protection system was also upgraded to a similar configuration as ''Discovery'' and ''Atlantis'' in between the loss of ''Challenger'' and STS-28, with many of the white LRSI tiles replaced with felt insulation blankets in order to reduce weight and turnaround time. One other minor modification that debuted on STS-28 was the move of ''Columbia's'' name from its payload bay doors to the fuselage, allowing the orbiter to be easily recognized while in orbit.

''Columbia'' landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, at 9:37:08 a.m. EDT on August 13, 1989, after a mission lasting 5 days, 1 hour and 8 seconds. Because of a software glitch with the weight-on-wheels sensors installed on the landing gear, the crew was instructed to touch down on the runway as softly as possible. This instruction resulted in a touchdown airspeed of {{convert|154|kn}}, the slowest of the entire Shuttle program by a wide margin and barely above the Orbiter's stall speed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hale |first=Wayne |date=29 July 2015 |title=Pilot Error is Never Root Cause |url=https://waynehale.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/pilot-error-is-never-root-cause/ |website=Wayne Hale's Blog}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
{{Gallery
|File:STS-28 Rollout - GPN-2000-000669.jpg|''Columbia'' on pad 39-B
|File:EFS highres STS028 STS028-89-83.JPG|[[Alaska]]'s [[Saint Elias Mountains]] and [[Malaspina Glacier]] imaged from orbit.
|File:STS28ByPhilKonstantin.jpg|STS-28 Robbins Medallion
|File:Sds nro 01.jpg|The SDS-2 satellite during pre-launch preparations
|File:skull1.jpg|The DSO 469 human skull
|File:SILTS2.jpg|The SILTS pod
}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
* [[List of human spaceflights]]
* [[List of Space Shuttle missions]]
* [[Militarization of space]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-28/mission-sts-28.html NASA mission summary]
* [http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle30.htm STS-28 Video Highlights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717102047/http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle30.htm |date=July 17, 2012 }}
* [https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/shuttle_pk/pk/Flight_030_STS-028R_Press_Kit.pdf STS-28 Mission Press Kit]

{{Space Shuttle Columbia}}
{{All U.S. Space Shuttle Missions}}
{{Orbital launches in 1989}}

[[Category:Space Shuttle missions]]
[[Category:Edwards Air Force Base]]
[[Category:Spacecraft which reentered in 1989]]
[[Category:Spacecraft launched in 1989]]
[[Category:Department of Defense Space Shuttle missions]]
[[Category:August 1989]]