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Shuttle set to land

NZPA-Reuter Houston The United States space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to land today at 12.36 p.m. New Zealand time at Edwards Air Force Base in California, an Air Force spokesman said yesterday.

Government sources said earlier in the day that Atlantis’ all-mili-tary crew had successfully deployed a SUSSOO million ($768 million) spy satellite, completing the main objective of its top-secret military mission. The landing will end the five-day flight that began on Friday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

An Air Force spokesman, Captain Allen Wylie, said: “All systems have performed satisfactorily and the crew

is beginning preparations for landing.” N.A.S.A. has made virtually no comment about the flight since shortly after take-off when the Defence Department imposed a news blackout. No official confirmation of satellite deployment has been given, but Government sources said the newgeneration spacecraft, codenamed Lacrosse, was sent spinning out of Atlantis’ cargo bay on Saturday and was performing properly.

Lacrosse is the first United States spacecraft capable of peering through clouds and darkness to spy on the Soviet Union.

Atlantis, carrying a crew of five, is flying the twenty-seventh United States shuttle mission

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19881207.2.75

Bibliographic details

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 10

Word Count
189

Shuttle set to land Press, 7 December 1988, Page 10

Shuttle set to land Press, 7 December 1988, Page 10