STS-41-D (Discovery)
STS-41-D (Discovery)
Launch Date
August 30, 1984
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
6
STS-41-D (Discovery)
STS-41-D (Discovery)
Launch Date
August 30, 1984
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
6
Overview
The maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Discovery. A June 26th launch attempt ended at T-6.4 seconds after two of the three Shuttle main engines had started to ignite. The pad abort triggered a hydrogen fire under Discovery, damaging the Space Shuttle. The abort led to major improvements in Shuttle abort safety guidelines and procedures and forced a two month delay to the flight, during which NASA cancelled STS-41-F and transferred its payload to this mission. After launch, the crew deployed three communications satellites for the U.S. (2) and Canada (1) and tested solar array technology. The flight marked the first time a company commercially sponsored an employee to fly on the Space Shuttle to perform one of its experiments.
Crafts
Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.