Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-61-B
Launch Successful
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Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
Nov. 27, 1985, 12:29 a.m. - Nov. 27, 1985, 12:29 a.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
Nov. 27, 1985, 12:29 a.m. - Nov. 27, 1985, 12:29 a.m.
STS-61-B was the twenty-third space shuttle mission and the second for the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle was launched for Kennedy Space Center and the shuttle deployed three communicates satellites. It also tested techniques for constructing structures in orbit. This mission marked the quickest turnaround of a shuttle, just 54 days elapsed beetween this launch and Atlantis' previous mission.
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.
Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV‑104) is a Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Constructed by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985, Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J from 3 to 7 October 1985. Atlantis embarked on its 33rd and final mission, also the final mission of a space shuttle, STS-135, on 8 July 2011. STS-134 by Endeavour was expected to be the final flight before STS-135 was authorized in October 2010. STS-135 took advantage of the processing for the STS-335 Launch On Need mission that would have been necessary if STS-134's crew became stranded in orbit. Atlantis landed for the final time at the Kennedy Space Center on 21 July 2011. By the end of its final mission, Atlantis had orbited the Earth a total of 4,848 times, traveling nearly 126,000,000 mi (203,000,000 km) or more than 525 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.
Space Shuttle Details
Date of
Birth: May 16, 1945
Age: 79
Date of
Birth: Sept. 6, 1946
Age: 78
Date of
Birth: Feb. 19, 1952
Age: 72
Date of
Birth: Sept. 3, 1944
Age: 80
Date of
Birth: Feb. 5, 1947
Date of Death:
Nov. 27, 2023
Date of
Birth: Aug. 29, 1948
Age: 76
Date of
Birth: Jan. 20, 1948
Age: 76
The 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.
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