STS-32

STS-32 was Columbia's January 1990 Space Shuttle mission to deploy the SYNCOM IV-F5 defense communications satellite and retrieve NASA's Long Duration Exposure Facility. NASA lists Daniel Brandenstein as commander, James Wetherbee as pilot, and Bonnie Dunbar, Marsha Ivins, and David Low as mission specialists. Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A on January 9, 1990, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on January 20 after a flight of nearly eleven days. The mission deployed SYNCOM IV-F5, also known as Leasat 5, early in the flight. A solid perigee motor then sent the satellite toward geosynchronous orbit for U.S. Navy communications service. The crew's other primary objective was the recovery of LDEF, a bus-sized free-flying exposure platform launched in 1984 with dozens of materials, technology, and science experiments mounted around its exterior. LDEF had remained in orbit far longer than originally planned after Shuttle scheduling disruptions, making its retrieval time-sensitive. Dunbar used Columbia's robotic arm to capture the spacecraft, and the crew documented the exposed experiment carrier before bringing it home for post-flight analysis. Creating this mission fills the missing production link for Wetherbee's first spaceflight and Ivins' first Shuttle mission while adding the complete five-person crew.