STS-33

STS-33

Discovery in orbit; in-flight photography on this Department of Defense (DoD) support mission is limited.
Names	Space Transportation System-33 STS-33R
Mission type	DoD satellite deployment
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1989-090A
SATCAT no.	20329
Mission duration	5 days, 6 minutes and 48 seconds
Distance travelled	3,400,000 km (2,100,000 mi)
Orbits completed	79
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Discovery
Landing mass	88,125 kg (194,282 lb)
Payload mass	21,000 kg (46,000 lb)
Crew
Crew size	5
Members	Frederick D. Gregory John E. Blaha Sonny Carter Story Musgrave Kathryn C. Thornton
Start of mission
Launch date	November 23, 1989, 00:23:30 (November 23, 1989, 00:23:30) UTC (7:23 pm EST)
Launch site	Kennedy, LC-39B
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	November 28, 1989, 00:30:18 (November 28, 1989, 00:30:18) UTC (4:30:18 pm PDT)
Landing site	Edwards, Runway 4
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	519 km (322 mi)
Apogee altitude	519 km (322 mi)
Inclination	28.45°
Period	88.70 minutes
Instruments
Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing observatory (AMOS) Enhanced Longwave Spectral Imager (ELSI)
STS-33 mission patch Back row: Carter and Blaha Front row: Thornton, Gregory and Musgrave Space Shuttle program ← STS-34 (31) STS-32 (33) →

STS-33 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Discovery deployed a payload for the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It was the 32nd shuttle mission overall, the ninth flight of Discovery, the fifth shuttle mission in support of the DoD, the seventh post-Space Shuttle Challenger disaster mission and the last Shuttle mission of the 1980s. Due to the nature of the mission, specific details remain classified. Discovery lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, on November 22, 1989, at 7:23:30 p.m. EST; it landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on November 27, 1989, at 7:30:16 p.m. EST.

The mission was officially designated STS-33R as the original STS-33 designator belonged to the ill-fated Challenger STS-51-L, the 25th Space Shuttle mission. Official documentation for that mission contained the designator STS-33 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.