Shuttle Carries Secret Payload Aloft in ‘Spectacular’ Night Liftoff

Grounded four months by a potentially explosive hydrogen fuel leak, the space shuttle Atlantis waited out tricky winds and rocketed into orbit Thursday, carrying a secret military satellite said to be headed for reconnaissance duty over the Middle East.

The 37th launch in the space shuttle program and the seventh liftoff for Atlantis came at 6:48 p.m. EST, an hour and a half after nightfall.

“Spectacular . . . “ reported mission commander Richard Covey, as Atlantis streaked toward orbit on a heading almost due east from the launch site. Rising on a brilliant column of flame, the spacecraft lit the night sky for hundreds of miles along the East Coast, remaining in sight as a brilliant star long after its solid rocket boosters had dropped away.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration chief Richard H. Truly echoed the flight commander. “This was as smooth a countdown, liftoff, and early flight as I have ever seen,” he said half an hour after launch.

In keeping with its policy of secrecy on military missions, NASA cut off broadcast communications from the spacecraft as soon as Covey, an Air Force colonel, and his four-man crew had slipped into orbit over the Atlantic.

The space agency gave the flight’s planned duration as just five minutes less than four days, meaning that Atlantis is expected to touch down Monday evening on a desert runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Speculation throughout the launch preparation had been that the shuttle’s cargo bay carried an Air Force satellite to provide either photo reconnaissance or electronic eavesdropping over the tense Persian Gulf. While officials have refused to give any hint of the nature of the payload, they acknowledged that the flight is one of special importance.

Once Atlantis was ready to fly, problems in checking out the secret payload on the launch pad caused an additional six-day delay in the liftoff. The hydrogen leak, discovered last summer after a similar problem with the shuttle Columbia, forced engineers to remove the vehicle from its launch pad for repairs.

Thursday evening’s shuttle liftoff was the second launch of a secret military payload from the Florida space complex this week. On Monday, a huge Titan 4 booster, the United States’ most powerful unmanned launcher, lifted a reconnaissance satellite into orbit from a pad several miles from the shuttle complex.

Atlantis’ launch marked the last flight of a space shuttle on a secret mission dedicated to military security objectives, ending an era that began with the Pentagon banking solely on the shuttle to carry its heaviest spy satellites into orbit.

After the shuttle explosion in January, 1986, left the Air Force unable to launch its most sophisticated reconnaissance equipment, the Defense Department opted for development of the Titan 4 and an end to its reliance on NASA’s manned space plane.

Two shuttle flights will carry military payloads next year, but in both cases the cargo has been declassified.

The end of the secret operations pleases both the Air Force and the civilian space agency, which found it awkward to operate the much-publicized shuttle in secrecy. Thursday evening’s launch was the seventh carrying military cargo requiring that even the planned time of liftoff be kept secret until nine minutes before ignition.

Although weather conditions gradually had improved since late Tuesday, it appeared through much of the day Thursday that the gusts of wind over the launch pad would force yet another delay.

Because an emergency after separation from the solid rocket boosters could require the shuttle to return for landing on a runway here, launch rules require that crosswinds at the landing site be no more than 12 knots at the time of launch.

Through much of the day the area experienced unacceptable crosswinds of 15 knots, gusting to 25. By launch time the gusts had been replaced by a balmy breeze.

Aside from Covey, a 44-year-old veteran of two shuttle flights, the Atlantis’ all-military crew is composed of astronauts making their first orbital mission: Navy Cmdr. Frank L. B. Culbertson, 41; Army Capt. Charles D. Gemar, 35; Air Force Lt. Col. Carl J. Meade, who will celebrate his 40th birthday in orbit today; and Marine Corps Col. Robert C. Springer, 48.