yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (12/19/89)
PAYLOAD STATUS REPORT Prepared at 4:15 p.m. Dec.l8, l989 Mission STS-32 STS-32 -- SYNCOM, LDEF RETRIEVAL Today's announcement of a new target launch date for STS-32 of no earlier than Jan. 8, l990 is expected to have no impact on either SYNCOM deployment or the retrieval of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). SYNCOM is in Columbia's cargo bay at Launch Pad A. There, the satellite is being trickle charged and maintained in a launch readiness condition. The change of the launch date will not af- fect the scenario planned for deployment of the satellite, which will be known as LEASAT once on station. The scenario, known as Post Ejection Sequencer (PES), calls for a series of manuevers performed over a period of several days. Forty-five minutes after deployment, the solid perigee kick motor will be ignited. Three manuevers will place the satellite in a geosynchronous orbit at l77 degrees west. Retrieval of the LDEF, now a valuable scientific repository, will not be impacted by the revised launch date. Current es- timates are that LDEF will be retrievable through at least the third week of February.