Landing of Endeavour at 7:37:56am EDT 9/18/95
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Space Shuttle mission STS-69 was launched on Thursday, September 7 at 11:09:00.052 am EDT and returned on KSC Runway 33 at on September 18, 1995 at 7:37:56am EDT. Main gear touchdown at Mission Elapsed Time of 10days 20hr 28 56sec. Nose gear touchdown at MET 10days 20hours 29min 8 sec with Wheel Stop at 10 days 20hr 29min 52 sec or 7:38:52 EDT.

On September 7,1995, the launch window was 2 hours 30 min. Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB's) seperation was successful. At 7min 45sec SSME throttled back while Endeavour traveling at more than 4miles per sec and 640 miles downrange. SSME cutoff confirmed at 8min 30sec.

Operations to load the External Tank began at 2:20am 9/7/95 and were completed at 5:15am. The crew suited up at 7:30am EDT and left the Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) at 7:58am EDT. The crew arrived at launch Pad 39-A at 8:10am EDT. The hatch was closed and sealed but failed to pass its leak check at 9:50am EDT. The crew hatch was reopened and the seals checked. Then a retest was performed. Another problem late in the count was with Water Spray Boiler # 2. The Water Spray Boilers normally pressurize to 39 PSI but unit #2 showed a pressure of 38.7 PSI. This did not violate any Launch Commit Criteria and the Mission Management Team determined the lower pressure was not a constraint to launch. There was also a minor problem with a "safe" talkback indicator on a safe and arm device on the Solid Rocket Booster. This problem has been seen before and is understood. It was not expected to be of any concern to the Solid Rocket Booster Recovery team.

On August 31, 1995, the Mission Management Team (MMT) decided to scrub the 8/31/95 scheduled launch of Endeavour on mission STS-69 due to a failure of one of three fuel cells aboard the vehicle. The scrub was called at 3:30am on 8/31/95 prior to tanking operations and a new date was set for September 7, 1995. Fuel cells provide electricity to the vehicle while in orbit. Mission rules state all three fuel cells must be up and operational prior to launch. At the 10:30am press conference on 8/31/95, Bob Sieck announced the scrub was called due to a temperature spike in the Fuel Cell #2 exit temperature. The fuel cell is located in the right side of the payload bay. Fuel cell #2 had 1700 hours of operation and cells are typically kept in service until 2400 hours of operation. A similar fuel cell problem was previously detected on orbit during the Spacelab D-1 mission STS-61A and on the launch pad during STS-6. During STS-6, the fuel cell was replaced on the pad and similar procedures will be used for STS-69.

The countdown had begun at 3pm EDT on 8/28/95. (ReferenceKSC Shuttle Status 8/29/1995). The previous launch date of 11:04am 8/31/95 was decided after NASA officials held a Flight Readiness Review to consider remaining issues in preparing Endeavour for the flight. Among the items reviewed and closed out was the issue of minor O-ring erosion seen in a joint of the Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) nozzle during the last two Shuttle launches. (ReferenceKSC Shuttle Status 8/25/1995).

Previously, Endeavour was Rollbacked on 8/1/95 to the VAB due to Hurricane ERIN. (ReferenceKSC Shuttle Status 8/01/1995). Endeavour was returned to Pad 39-A on 8/08/95 with first motion occuring at 1:55am. (ReferenceKSC Shuttle Status 8/08/1995).

Old launch date was August 5, 1995 no earlier than 10:45am. Launch date was pending resolution of open items including the post flight assessment of an anomaly on one of the STS-71 solid rocket booster nozzle joints. (ReferenceKSC Shuttle Status 7/25/1995)

Rollout to Launch pad 39-A occured on 7/5/95 with first motion out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at around 11 p.m. The Vehicle was hard down on the pad at about 4:30am on 7/6/95. Hot fire of auxiliary power units APU units 2 and 3 occured on 7/6/95. (ReferenceKSC Shuttle Status 7/06/1995)

STS-69 Movies and Images

STS-69 KSC Electronic Photo Archive
STS-69 KSC Electronic Movie Archive

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