STS-38

Flight Crew

COVEY, Richard Oswalt, 44, USAF, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS 51-1 (1985), STS-26 (1988)

CULBERTSON Jr., Frank Lee, 41, USN, pilot MEADE, Carl Joseph, 40, USAF, mission specialist 1 SPRINGER, Robert Clyde, 48, USMC, mission specialist 2, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-29 (1989)

GEMAR, Charles Donald “Sam”, 35, US Army, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

Originally scheduled for launch in July 1990, when a liquid hydrogen leak was found on Columbia (STS-35), three precautionary mini tanking tests on Atlantis also con­firmed hydrogen leaks on its ET. These could not be repaired on the pad, and the stack was returned to the processing area for repairs on 9 August. The STS-38 stack was parked outside the VAB overnight to allow STS-35 to be rolled out to its pad. Unfortunately, a hail storm that night caused minor tile damage which also needed repairing. Atlantis was returned to the VAB for mating on 2 October, but during hoisting operations a platform beam that should have been removed from the aft compartment fell off, causing more (but thankfully minor) damage, which was quickly repaired. The stack was returned to the Pad on 12 October and a fourth tanking test went smoothly. The revised launch date was set at 9 November. However, on 31 October, the USAF announced another delay to the launch, this time due to “anomalies discovered during cargo testing.” The night-time launch was rescheduled for 15 November and this time occurred without incident despite some concerns with the weather at the Cape. Atlantis lifted off 18 minutes into its four-hour launch window.

As this was a classified DoD mission, the air-to-ground communications and reporting of crew activities and mission events ceased after confirmation that Atlantis

had safely reached orbit, but this did not stop the speculation as to what the mission of STS-38 was intended to achieve. Media reports indicated that the payload bay was full of sensors, including high-resolution digital cameras that might be used to monitor activities in the Persian Gulf, particularly the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait that led to the First Gulf War. However, a USAF spokesman indicated that Atlantis had launched into an orbital inclination that would take the Shuttle well south of Iraq “for much of the time.” This gave rise to comments that the payload might be an electronic eavesdropping satellite called “Magnum”, rather than a photoreconnaissance satel­lite. The deployment of the payload could have been at any time during the orbital phase, but media reports indicated that this operation had been carried out two days into the mission. The payload was later identified as an advanced data relay satellite for use with the Crystal imaging reconnaissance platform.

Whatever it was, its deployment from the orbiter was monitored by amateur astronomers on Earth. Their reports indicated that the deployed payload was behav­ing very mysteriously in ways never seen before, suggesting that the satellite might have malfunctioned and that the Shuttle crew might have been required to retrieve it. NASA and the Air Force remained silent, which only served to fuel speculation that

there was perhaps an unannounced EVA by the crew. Records have shown that the RMS was carried on classified missions STS 51-C, STS-27, and the later unclassified DoD mission STS-39, but not on STS-38. Therefore, if the satellite had to be retrieved or attended to, the lack of RMS meant that the only other option was a contingency EVA. If such an event had occurred – and there is still no evidence that an EVA was accomplished – astronauts Springer (EV1) and Meade (EV2) would have been assigned the task, supported by Culbertson (IV). A year after the mission, an issue of Space News dated 18-24 November 1991 included an interview with Don Stager, the Vice President of TRW’s military wing. Stager talked about the upcoming deployment of the DSP satellite during STS-44, and indicated that “a couple of [military shuttle] launches ago, there was a situation that was not understood”. He indicated that sunlight glinting off the solar arrays had caused a problem, which may have explained the strange movements observed by the amateur astronomers. Exactly what occurred during the deployment sequence will remain classified for many years to come, however.

Although the activities of the crew were classified, at least one voice message from Atlantis was released. Commander Dick Covey requested that a message of support be sent to the men and women of Desert Shield from the crew of Atlantis. The crew wished them peace and a speedy return home. The astronauts were thinking of them and their families as they orbited the Earth.

The landing was intended to be at Edwards AFB, but unacceptable crosswinds and continuing adverse conditions led to a late decision to delay the landing by 24 hours and take Atlantis back to the Cape. The last landing there, in April 1985 (STS 51-D), led to a landing left of the centreline, locked right side landing brakes and a blown tyre. Because of this, landings at KSC were eschewed in favour of Edwards AFB, whose dry lake bed surfaces surrounding the runways offered more flexibility until improvements were completed at the Cape. This time, however, Atlantis came home without incident, landing on Runway 33 and rolling out about 2,750 metres to wheel stop.

Milestones

136th manned space flight 67th US manned space flight 37th Shuttle flight 7th Atlantis flight

7th and final fully classified DoD Shuttle mission 1st KSC landing for Atlantis

Meade celebrates his 40th birthday in space (16 Nov)