STS-51-G

STS-51-G

Discovery deploys Morelos 1
Mission type Satellite deployment
Operator NASA
COSPAR ID 1985-048A
SATCAT № 15823
Mission duration 7 days, 1 hour, 38 minutes, 52 seconds
Distance travelled 4,693,051 kilometres (2,916,127 mi)
Orbits completed 112
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch mass 116,357 kilograms (256,524 lb)
Landing mass 92,610 kilograms (204,169 lb)
Payload mass 17,280 kilograms (38,096 lb)
Crew
Crew size 7
Members Daniel C. Brandenstein
John O. Creighton
John M. Fabian
Steven R. Nagel
Shannon W. Lucid
Patrick Baudry
Sultan Salman Al Saud
Start of mission
Launch date June 17, 1985, 11:33:00 (1985-06-17UTC11:33Z) UTC
Launch site Kennedy LC-39A
End of mission
Landing date June 24, 1985, 13:11:52 (1985-06-24UTC13:11:53Z) UTC
Landing site Edwards Runway 23
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 353.3 kilometres (219.5 mi)
Apogee 354.9 kilometres (220.5 mi)
Inclination 28.45 degrees
Period 91.8 minutes
Epoch June 19, 1985[1]


Back L-R: Lucid, Nagel, Fabian, Al-Saud, Baudry,
Front L-R: Brandenstein, Creighton

Space Shuttle program
← STS-51-B STS-51-F →

STS-51-G was the eighteenth flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fifth flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. The seven-day mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 17, 1985, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on June 24. Sultan Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia was on board as a payload specialist; Al Saud became the first Arab, the first Muslim, and the first member of a royal family to fly into space.[2] It was also the first Space Shuttle mission which flew without at least one astronaut from the pre-Shuttle era among its crew.

Crew

Position Astronaut
Commander United States Daniel C. Brandenstein
Second spaceflight
Pilot United States John O. Creighton
First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1 United States John M. Fabian
Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2 United States Steven R. Nagel
First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3 United States Shannon W. Lucid
First spaceflight
Payload Specialist 1 France Patrick Baudry, CNES
Only spaceflight
Payload Specialist 2 Saudi Arabia Sultan Salman Al Saud, RSAF
Only spaceflight
Al Saud became the first member of royalty to fly into space,
as well as the first Arab and the first Muslim.

Backup crew

Position Astronaut
Payload Specialist 1 France Jean-Loup Chrétien, CNES
Second spaceflight
Payload Specialist 2 Saudi Arabia Abdulmohsen Al-Bassam, RSAF
First spaceflight

Crew seating arrangements

Seat[3] Launch Landing
Seats 1–4 are on the Flight Deck. Seats 5–7 are on the Middeck.
S1 Brandenstein Brandenstein
S2 Creighton Creighton
S3 Fabian Lucid
S4 Nagel Nagel
S5 Lucid Fabian
S6 Baudry Baudry
S7 Al Saud Al Saud

Mission summary

Discovery lifted off from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 7:33 am EDT on June 17, 1985. The mission's crew members included Daniel C. Brandenstein, commander; John O. Creighton, pilot; Shannon W. Lucid, Steven R. Nagel, and John M. Fabian, mission specialists; and Patrick Baudry, of France, and Prince Sultan Salman Al Saud, of Saudi Arabia, both payload specialists.

STS-51-G carried three communications satellites as its primary cargo. These were Arabsat-1B (Arab Satellite Communications Organization); Morelos I (Mexico); and Telstar 3D (AT&T Corporation). All three successfully utilized PAM-D booster stages to achieve geosynchronous transfer orbits after being deployed from Discovery.

Also carried was the Spartan 1 carrier module, designed to be deployed from the orbiter and fly free in space before being retrieved. Spartan 1 included 140 kilograms (300 lb) of astronomy experiments. It was deployed and operated successfully, independent of the orbiter, before being retrieved. Discovery furthermore carried an experimental materials-processing furnace, several French biomedical experiments, and six Getaway Special experiments, which were all successfully performed, although the GO34 Getaway Special shut down prematurely.

The mission's final payload element was a High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE) for the Strategic Defense Initiative (nicknamed "Star Wars"); the HPTE failed to deploy properly during its first try on the mission's 37th orbit, because the orbiter was not at the correct attitude. It was successfully deployed on orbit 64.

Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base at 9:12 am EDT on June 24, 1985, after a mission duration of 7 days, one hour, 38 minutes and 52 seconds.

Wake-up calls

NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Gemini program, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15. Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.[4]

Flight Day Song Artist/Composer
Day 2 "I Feel the Earth Move" Carole King
Day 3 "Proud Mary" Creedence Clearwater Revival
Day 4 "Sailing" Christopher Cross
Day 5 "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" Neil Diamond
Day 6 "Wedding March" Felix Mendelssohn

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  1. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan. "SATCAT". Jonathan's Space Pages. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  2. ↑ "A prince in space" at Saudi Aramco World. January/February 1986 edition. p.20–29. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  3. ↑ "STS-51G". Spacefacts. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  4. ↑ Fries, Colin (June 25, 2007). "Chronology of Wakeup Calls" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved August 13, 2007.


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