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Gary Payton

American - ( USAF)

Retired

Date of Birth: June 20, 1948
Age: 75


Colonel Gary Eugene Payton, USAF, (born June 20, 1948) is an American former astronaut. Payton flew on the STS-51-C mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in January 1985 which launched and returned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. STS-51C was the first dedicated Space Shuttle Department of Defense mission. Payton traveled over 1.2 million miles in 48 Earth orbits, and logged more than 73 hours in space.

Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-51-C

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | USA
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Jan. 24, 1985, 1:04 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-51-C was the fifteenth flight of the shuttle program and third for the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was the first space shuttle mission dedicated to the United States Department of Defense and therefore, the mission details remain classified.

Low Earth Orbit
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Commander-in-Chief: President of the US

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947.


South Korean ADD Solid-Fuel SLV (3 stage)
Success
18 hours, 16 minutes ago
S-STEP
ADD Offshore launch platform - Jeju Island, South Korea

Note: Launch vehicle name is provisional. Prototype small synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite built by Hanhwa Aerospace on a planar satellite…


Long March 2
Success
19 hours, 6 minutes ago
MisrSat-2
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

MisrSat-2 is an Earth observation satellite for the Egyptian Space Agency built by China, with participation from Egyptian engineers and scientists o…


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 19 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-31
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 4 hours ago
425 Project Flight 1 & rideshare
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Note: Name of payload is provisional. First launch of an ultimately 5 reconnaissance satellites for the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program A…


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
3 days, 13 hours ago
Progress MS-25 (86P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.