What is the most distant point from the Earth that a space shuttle has reached? When did this happen?
1 Answer
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Space Shuttle Discovery re-boosted the orbit of Hubble during STS-82 (in 1997) and in the process reached 620 km altitude, which is higher than any other Shuttle flight.
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1$\begingroup$ The apogee is recorded as 574 km in wiki page, 620 km is the max altitude of Hubble. $\endgroup$– hayalciCommented Jun 6, 2011 at 11:56
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1$\begingroup$ @hayalci The orbit changed throughout the mission so the summary apogee is not correct. If you look at the flight day highlights it reports that on day 9 that the Shuttle moved to a 335 by 321 nautical mile orbit, which translates to an apogee of 620 km. science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-82/… $\endgroup$– WedgeCommented Jun 6, 2011 at 21:50
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$\begingroup$ 335 by 321 nautical mile orbit is still for the Hubble, but the page says at the release time hubble was at 334 nautical miles(~618 km). That must be the highest point in Shuttle's life. [ I'm just being pedantic, have an upvote :) ] $\endgroup$– hayalciCommented Jun 11, 2011 at 20:45
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$\begingroup$ @hayalci unless Hubble maneuvered after release, both it and Discovery were on the 335x321nm orbit at the time. Unless Discovery was in the orbit for less than one complete rotation around the Earth it reached the 335nm point as well. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 27, 2012 at 17:50
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3$\begingroup$ Assuming the daily highlights are listed chronologically the Discovery crew slept between when they entered the release orbit and when they released the HST. This would mean the Discovery completed several 335x321nm orbits prior to releasing the HST. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 27, 2012 at 17:59