STS-38 was a
Space Shuttle mission by
NASA using the
Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the 37th shuttle mission, and carried a
classified payload for the
U.S. Department of Defense. It was the 7th flight for
Atlantis and the 7th flight dedicated to the Department of Defense. The mission was a 4-day mission that traveled more than 2 million miles and completed 79 revolutions.
Atlantis landed at
Kennedy Space Center's
Shuttle Landing Facility's runway 33. The launch was originally scheduled for July 1990, but was rescheduled due to a hydrogen leak found on during the
STS-35 countdown. During a rollback to the
Orbiter Processing Facility Atlantis was damaged during a hail storm. The eventual launch date of 15 November 1990 was set due to a payload problem. The launch window was between 18:30 and 22:30 EST. The launch occurred at 18:48 EST.