Circle Image

William A. Pailes

American - (USAF)

Retired

Date of Birth: June 26, 1952
Age: 73


William Arthur Pailes (Colonel, USAF) (born June 26, 1952) was a USAF astronaut in the Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program during the mid-1980s. He served as a Payload Specialist on STS-51-J Atlantis (October 3–7, 1985).

Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-51-J

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Oct. 3, 1985, 3:15 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-51-J was the twenty-first space shuttle mission and the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the second mission dedicated to deploying a Department of Defence payload. It was a classified mission however we do know that it deployed two 10 satellites.

Low Earth Orbit
Explore Share

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.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-97
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


PSLV-DL
Failure
3 days, 6 hours ago
EOS-N1 and others
Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

Small Earth observation satellite from NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) for an "Indian strategic user", details TBD. This launch will also carry 18 o…


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 21 hours ago
Pandora / Twilight rideshare mission
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

The Pandora small satellite was selected in 2021 as an inaugural mission in NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers Program. It includes a 0.45-meter telescope …


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 13 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-96
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Starlink Group 6-88
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.