STS-51G Fact Sheet

By Cliff Lethbridge

STS-51G — Discovery

18th Space Shuttle Mission

5th Flight of Discovery

Crew:

Daniel C. Brandenstein, Commander

John O. Creighton, Pilot

Shannon W. Lucid, Mission Specialist

Steven R. Nagel, Mission Specialist

John M. Fabian, Mission Specialist

Patrick Baudry, Payload Specialist

Sultan Salman Al-Saud, Payload Specialist

Orbiter Preparations:

Tow to Orbiter Processing Facility – April 19, 1985

Rollover to Vehicle Assembly Building – May 29, 1985

Rollout to Launch Pad 39A – June 4, 1985

Launch:

June 17, 1985 – 7:33:00 EDT. Launch occurred as scheduled with no delays.

Landing:

June 24, 1985 – 6:11:52 a.m. PDT at Runway 23, Edwards Air Force Base, California. Rollout distance was 7,433 feet. Rollout time was 42 seconds. Mission duration was 7 days, 1 hour, 38 minutes, 52 seconds. Landing occurred during the 112th orbit.

Mission Summary:

The crew included French and Saudi Arabian astronauts in the first Shuttle flight employing astronauts from three nations. Three communications satellites, all attached to PAM-D solid rocket motors, were deployed. These included MORELOS-A for Mexico, ARABSAT-A for the Arab Satellite Communications Organization and TELSTAR-3D for A,T&T.

Other payloads included the deployable/retrievable Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-1 (SPARTAN-1), six GAS experiments, Strategic Defense Initiative High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE), a materials processing furnace called Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF) and two French biomedical experiments.