STS-51G Fact Sheet
Written and Edited 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.

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© Copyright 1998 by Clifford J. Lethbridge