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- Atlantis will put NASA's fourth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-E) into orbit on Space Shuttle mission STS-43 to update the satellite tracking network, resulting in two operating satellites plus a complement of two spares in the space network. TDRS-E, to be deployed from Atlantis about 6 hours after launch, will be boosted to a geosynchronous orbit by an attached upper stage where TDRS-E will be positioned to remain stationary 22,400 miles above the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, in operation since the eighth Space Shuttle flight, provides almost uninterrupted communications with Earth-orbiting shuttles and satellites and has replaced the intermittent coverage provided by globe-encircling ground tracking stations used during the early space program. A reduced string of ground stations remains in operation, however, for radar tracking and backup communications.
[Summary provided by NASA]
Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: STS-43 Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Space Stations/Manned Spacecraft Platform_Series_or_Entity: SPACE SHUTTLE Short_Name: STS-43 Long_Name: Space Transport System STS-43 End_Group Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names Short_Name: Atlantis (9) End_Group Group: Orbit Orbit_Altitude: 174nm Orbit_Inclination: 28.45 degrees End_Group Creation_Date: 2008-01-29 Online_Resource: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-43/mission-sts-43.html Sample_Image: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/134436main_sts-43-crew-sm.jpg Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 1991-08-02 Launch_Site: Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center, USA Primary_Sponsor: NASA End_Group End_Group
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