Tracking and Data Relay Satellite launch recovery mission

On April 5, 1983, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), Flight 1, was incorrectly inserted into an elliptical orbit as a result of a malfunction of the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) injection vehicle. The onboard Reaction Control System (RCS) hyrazine thrusters stabilized the spacecraft following separation from the IUS. Severe damage occurred to both the primary and redundant negative roll thrusters, located near the spacecraft to IUS mating interface, during the separation (at the 180 deg/s tumbling rate) and initialization sequence. In spite of this damage, the onboard RCS provided the necessary impulse to raise the perigee to geosynchronous altitude. Modifications to the attitude control modes were necessary to successfully accomplish the orbit raising without use of negative roll control thrusters and to avoid overheating of other RCS thrusters due to protracted operation (up to 3 hr) at off nominal, worst case duty cycles. The way that the hydrazine fueled RCS provided the impulse to raise TDRS perigee approximately 13,900 km (860 statute miles) to the necessary geosynchronous altitude is investigated. A description of the spacecraft in general and the operation of the two delta V thrusters, in particular, generating an average thrust of 2.7 Nt (0.6 1bf) and consuming a combined total of 363 kg (700 pounds) of hydrazine over 44 hours in 38 separate burns, is also presented.