STS-53
STS-53 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission in support of the United [States Department of Defense]. It was Discovery's 15th flight. The mission was launched on December 2, 1992, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This was also the last mission to have been operated via MCR-2 in JSC. Afterwards the room was restored entirely to its Apollo era appearance.
Mission highlights
Discovery carried a classified primary payload for the United States Department of Defense, two unclassified secondary payloads and nine unclassified middeck experiments.Discoverys primary payload, USA-89 is also known as, and was the shuttle's last major payload for the Department of Defense. The satellite was the third launch of a Satellite Data System-2 military communications satellite, after USA-40 on STS-28 and STS-38's deployment of USA-67.
Secondary payloads contained in or attached to Get Away Special hardware in the cargo bay included the Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres satellites and the combined Shuttle Glow Experiment/Cryogenic Heat Pipe Experiment.
Middeck experiments included Microcapsules in Space ; Space Tissue Loss ; Visual Function Tester ; Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor ; Radiation Monitoring Equipment ; Fluid Acquisition and Resupply Experiment ; Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting and Environmental System ; Battlefield Laser Acquisition Sensor Test ; and the Cloud Logic to Optimize Use of Defense Systems.