William Francis Readdy is a former Associate Administrator of the Office of Space Flight, at NASA Headquarters. He graduated from McLean High School, McLean, Virginia, in 1970 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering (with honors) from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1974. He's a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School 1980. Readdy is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Explorers Club, and the Royal Astronautical Society and is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA. He also belongs to the Association of Space Explorers.
STS-51 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission that launched the Advanced 10 Technology Satellite (ACTS) in September 1993. The flight also featured the deployment and retrieval of the SPAS-ORFEUS satellite and its IMAX camera, which captured spectacular footage of Discovery in space. A spacewalk was also performed during the mission to evaluate tools and techniques for the STS-61 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission later that year.
Low Earth OrbitSTS-79 was the 17th flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis, and the 79th mission of the Space Shuttle program. The flight saw Atlantis dock with the Russian space station Mir to deliver equipment, supplies and relief personnel. A variety of scientific experiments were also conducted aboard Atlantis by her crew. It was the first shuttle mission to rendezvous with a fully assembled Mir, and the fourth rendezvous of a shuttle to the space station.
Low Earth OrbitThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.