STS-43 TDRS-E & IUS over the Pacific Ocean after deployment from OV-104’s PLB

STS043-601-033 (2 Aug 1991) --- The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-E), is seen almost as a silhouette in this 70mm image. The TDRS spacecraft was captured on film as it moved away from the earth-orbiting Atlantis a mere six hours after the shuttle was launched from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. TDRS, built by TRW, will be placed in a geosynchronous orbit and after on-orbit testing, which requires several weeks, will be designated TDRS-5. The communications satellite will replace TDRS-3 at 174 degrees west longitude. The backbone of NASA's space-to-ground communications, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites have increased NASA's ability to send and receive data to spacecraft in low-earth orbit to more than 85 percent of the time. Before TDRS, NASA relied solely on a system of ground stations that permitted communications only 15 percent of the time. Increased coverage has allowed on-orbit repairs, live television broadcast from space and continuous dialogues between astronaut crews and ground control during critical periods such as space shuttle landings. The five astronauts of the STS-43 are John E. Blaha, mission commander, Michael a. Baker, pilot, and mission specialists Shannon W. Lucid, G. David Low and James C. Adamson.