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STS-61-B

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Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Communications

Low Earth Orbit Launch Complex 39A Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

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.

Space Shuttle

Family: Space Shuttle
Configuration:

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.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    56.1 m
  • Diameter
    8.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    2030 T
  • Thrust
    28200 kN
Family
  • Name
    Space Shuttle
  • Family
    Space Shuttle
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Space Shuttle
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $450000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    27500 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Space Shuttle Atlantis


In-active Human Rated Crew On-board: 7 Crew Capacity: 7 Payload Capacity: 27500 kg
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Serial Number: OV-104

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

Crew


Brewster H. Shaw

Commander - American - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: May 16, 1945
Age: 78

Bryan D. O'Connor

Pilot - American - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Sept. 6, 1946
Age: 77

Rodolfo Neri Vela

Payload Specialist - Mexican - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Feb. 19, 1952
Age: 72

Sherwood C. Spring

Mission Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Sept. 3, 1944
Age: 79

Mary L. Cleave

Mission Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: Feb. 5, 1947
Date of Death: Nov. 27, 2023

Charles D. Walker

Payload Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Aug. 29, 1948
Age: 75

Jerry L. Ross

Mission Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Jan. 20, 1948
Age: 76

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Administrator: Bill Nelson Founded: 1958 Successes: 115 Failures: 20 Pending: 6

Agency Type: Government

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.

INFO WIKI

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A


Long March 6A
Success
2 days, 14 hours ago
Yunhai 3-02
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese satellite reported for atmospheric/ocean/environmental/spatial parameter research purposes, details TBD.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-46
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 10 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-42
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
6 days, 1 hour ago
Soyuz MS-25
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Soyuz MS-25 will carry two cosmonauts and one astronaut to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome i…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Dragon CRS-2 SpX-30
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

30th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commer…


Electron
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Live and Let Fly (NROL-123)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) - Wallops Island, Virginia, USA

Mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.


Long March 2D/YZ-3
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Yunhai-2 Group 02
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Yunhai-2 is a constellation of Chinese military meteorological satellites. Reportedly the satellites use Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)…


Long March 8
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Queqiao-2
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Queqiao-2 is a Chinese artificial satellite to serve as a communications relay for future Chinese lunar far side missions that cannot communicate dir…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Starlink Group 7-16
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
Starlink Group 6-44
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.