STS-51-A (Discovery)
STS-51-A (Discovery)
Launch Date
November 8, 1984
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
5
STS-51-A (Discovery)
STS-51-A (Discovery)
Launch Date
November 8, 1984
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
5
Overview
This Discovery mission deployed two communications satellites for Canada and the U.S. and then rendezvoused with and retrieved two previously-launched satellites that had placed themselves into the wrong orbits. This marked the first time previously-launched satellites were retrieved from space and returned to Earth for repair and re-launch.
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.