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STS-26 Mission: TDRS-C
Space Shuttle: Discovery
Launch Pad: 39B
Launch Weight: 254,606 pounds
Launched: Sept. 29, 1988, 11:37:00 a.m. EDT
Landing Site: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Landing: October 3, 1988, 9:37:11 a.m. PDT
Landing Weight: 194,184 pounds
Runway: 17 
Rollout Distance: 7,451 feet
Rollout Time: 46 seconds
Revolution: 64
Mission Duration: 4 days, 1 hour, 0 minutes, 11 seconds
Returned to KSC: Oct. 8, 1988
Orbit Altitude: 203 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: 28.5 degrees
Miles Traveled: 1.7 million 

Crew Members

                    

Image above: STS-26 Crew photo with Commander Frederick H. Hauck, Pilot Richard 
O. Covey, Mission Specialists John M. Lounge, George D. Nelson and David C. 
Hilmers. Image Credit: NASA 

Launch Highlights

 The launch was delayed 1 hour, 38 minutes to replace fuses in the cooling 
system of two of the crew's flight pressure suits, and due to lighter than 
expected upper atmospheric winds. The suit repairs were successful and the 
countdown continued after a waiver of wind condition constraint was issued.

Mission Highlights

The primary payload, NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-3 (TDRS-3) attached 
to an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), became the second TDRS deployed. After 
deployment, IUS propelled the satellite to a geosynchronous orbit. Secondary 
payloads: Physical Vapor Transport of Organic Solids (PVTOS); Protein Crystal 
Growth (PCG); Infrared Communications Flight Experiment (IRCFE); Aggregation of 
Red Blood Cells (ARC); Isoelectric Focusing Experiment (IFE); Mesoscale 
Lightning Experiment (MLE); Phase Partitioning Experiment (PPE); Earth-Limb 
Radiance Experiment (ELRAD); Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF) 
and two Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments. Orbiter 
Experiments Autonomous Supporting Instrumentation System-I (OASIS-I) recorded 
variety of environmental measurements during various inflight phases of orbiter. 


Ku-band antenna in the payload bay was deployed; however, the dish antenna 
command and actual telemetry did not correspond. Also, the orbiter cabin Flash 
Evaporator System iced up, raising crew cabin temperature to the mid-80s.

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