STS-61-B (Atlantis)
STS-61-B (Atlantis)
Launch Date
November 26, 1985
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
7
STS-61-B (Atlantis)
STS-61-B (Atlantis)
Launch Date
November 26, 1985
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
7
Overview
This mission deployed three satellites for Australia, Mexico, and the U.S., and took the first Mexican citizen to space. Two spacewalks proved assembling large, pre-formed structures in space was possible, though their shape was crucial -- a key to the eventual construction of the International Space Station. At launch, this became the fastest turnaround between flights of any rocket or spacecraft to date; Atlantis launched for a second time just 54 days after her first mission.
Nations
United States of America
United States of America
Mexico
Mexico
Agencies
NASA
NASA
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.