STS-51-G

Mission emblem

Mission dates

Mission:

STS-51-G

COSPAR-ID :

1985-048A

Crew:

7th

Begin:

June 17, 1985, 11:33:00 UTC

Starting place:

Kennedy Space Center , LC-39A

Landing:

June 24, 1985, 13:11:51 UTC

Landing place:

Edwards Air Force Base , Runway 23

Flight duration:

7d 1h 38min 52s

Earth orbits:

112

Track height:

387 km

Orbit inclination :

28.45 °

Covered track:

4.6 million km

Payload:

Telstar-3D , Morelos-A and Arabsat-A

Team photo

v. l. No. Front: John Creighton, Daniel Brandenstein, John Fabian;
Back: Steven Nagel, Shannon Lucid, Patrick Baudry, Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

◄ Before / After ►

STS-51-B

STS-51-F

STS-51-G ( English S pace T ransportation S ystem ) is the mission designation for the flight of the US Space Shuttle Discovery ( OV -103) of NASA . The launch took place on June 17, 1985. It was the 18th space shuttle mission and the fifth flight of the space shuttle Discovery.

team

Main team

Daniel Brandenstein (2nd space flight), commanderUnited States
John Creighton (1st spaceflight), pilotUnited States
Shannon Lucid (1st spaceflight), mission specialistUnited States
John Fabian (2nd spaceflight), mission specialistUnited States
Steven Nagel (1st spaceflight), mission specialistUnited States
Patrick Baudry (1st Spaceflight), Payload Specialist ( CNES ) FranceFrance
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1st Spaceflight), Payload Specialist ( Arabsat ) Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia

At the time of the flight, Al Saud was almost 29 years old and since then the youngest member of the crew on board an American spaceship.

replacement

Jean-Loup Chrétien (CNES) France for BaudryFrance

Abdulmohsen Al-Bassam (Arabsat) Saudi Arabia for Al SaudSaudi Arabia

Mission overview

Three communications satellites were launched into orbit for the STS-51-G mission. These were Telstar -3D from AT&T, MORELOS-A for Mexico and ARABSAT-A for a Saudi Arabian organization. Among the experiments carried out, the first flight of the "Automated Directional Solidification Furnace" (ADSF), a kiln for physical examinations in weightlessness, should be mentioned in particular.

On June 20, a SPARTAN -101 satellite was launched and brought back on board after more than 45 hours. During the free flight of SPARTAN, a galaxy cluster and the center of our galaxy were explored.

The landing took place on schedule at Edwards AFB in California. Discovery was transported back to the Kennedy Space Center , Florida 4 days later in the then only Shuttle Carrier Aircraft .