STS-41-B

Vance D. Brand

• Birthday: 05/09/1931
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/15/1975
• Last Flight: 12/02/1990

Vance DeVoe Brand is an American former naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He served as Command Module Pilot during the first U.S.-Soviet joint spaceflight in 1975, and as Commander of three Space Shuttle missions.

His flight experience includes 9,669 flying hours, which includes 8,089 hours in jets, 391 hours in helicopters, 746 hours in spacecraft, and checkout in more than 30 types of military aircraft. Vance Brand Airport in Longmont, Colorado, is named in his honor.

Robert L. Gibson

• Birthday: 10/30/1946
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/03/1984
• Last Flight: 06/27/1995

Robert Lee “Hoot” Gibson is a former American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, and a retired NASA astronaut, as well as a professional pilot who currently races regularly at the annual Reno Air Races.

Bruce McCandless II

• Birthday: 06/08/1937
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/03/1984
• Last Flight: 04/24/1990

Bruce McCandless II was a U.S. naval officer and aviator, electrical engineer, and NASA astronaut. In 1984, during the first of his two Space Shuttle missions, he made the first untethered free flight by using the Manned Maneuvering Unit.

Robert L. Stewart

• Birthday: 05/10/1942
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/03/1984
• Last Flight: 10/03/1985

Robert Lee Stewart is a retired brigadier general of the United States Army and a former NASA astronaut.

Ronald McNair

• Birthday: 10/21/1950
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/03/1984
• Last Flight: 01/28/1986

Ronald Erwin McNair was an American physicist and NASA astronaut. He died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, in which he was serving as one of three mission specialists. He is survived by his wife, Cheryl, and two children. His kids were Joy Charey Mcnair (Daughter) and Reginald Ervin Mcnair (son).

STS-41-B

• Type: Communications
• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
• Launch Cost: $450,000,000

STS-41-B was the tenth Space Shuttle mission and the fourth of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It deployed 2 communication satellites and inluded the first untethered spacewalk. It was also the first shuttle mission to land at Kennedy Space Center.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 174 rockets, including 173 orbital launch attempts, while Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 232 rocket launches.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space Shuttle

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.