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
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19881207.2.75
Bibliographic details
Press, 7 December 1988, Page 10
Word Count
189Shuttle set to land Press, 7 December 1988, Page 10
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.