STS-43

STS-43 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission centered on deployment of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite TDRS-E, later TDRS-5. NASA records the flight as launching from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A on August 2, 1991, after several weather and technical delays. John Blaha commanded the mission, Michael Baker served as pilot, and Shannon Lucid, James Adamson, and G. David Low served as mission specialists. TDRS-E was deployed about six hours after launch and boosted toward geosynchronous orbit by an Inertial Upper Stage. The crew also operated secondary payloads and experiments including SSBUV, SHARE-II, TPCE, OCTW, APE-B, protein crystal growth, materials processing, acceleration measurement, combustion, plume imaging, and AMOS observations. Atlantis landed on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center on August 11, 1991, after 142 revolutions and a duration of 8 days, 21 hours, 21 minutes, and 25 seconds.