STS-51 (Discovery)
STS-51 (Discovery)
Launch Date
September 12, 1993
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
5
STS-51 (Discovery)
STS-51 (Discovery)
Launch Date
September 12, 1993
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
5
Overview
This mission deployed NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite, deployed and retrieved an ultraviolet telescope, conducted a spacewalk to test the tools that would be used for the upcoming Hubble repair mission, and marked the first time a Space Shuttle flew with a GPS receiver. A July launch attempt ended at T-3 seconds with an on-pad abort and emergency shutdown of Discovery's engines when a failure was detected.
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.