STS-41

Richard N. Richards

• Birthday: 08/24/1946
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/08/1989
• Last Flight: 09/09/1994

Richard Noel “Dick” Richards is a retired American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, chemical engineer, and a former NASA astronaut. He flew aboard four Space Shuttle missions in the 1980s and 1990s.

Robert D. Cabana

• Birthday: 01/23/1949
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/06/1990
• Last Flight: 12/04/1998

Robert Donald Cabana is the director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center, a former NASA astronaut, and a veteran of four Space Shuttle flights. He is also a former naval flight officer and naval aviator in the United States Marine Corps.

Bruce E. Melnick

• Birthday: 12/05/1949
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/06/1990
• Last Flight: 05/07/1992

Bruce Edward Melnick is a former American astronaut and retired United States Coast Guard officer. Following retirement from NASA and the Coast Guard, he entered the aerospace industry. He served as a Vice President with the Boeing Co.’s Integrated Defense Systems group, in charge of Boeing’s Florida operations at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Melnick retired in 2008 and currently resides on Merritt Island, Florida.

Thomas Akers

• Birthday: 05/20/1951
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/06/1990
• Last Flight: 09/16/1996

Thomas Dale Akers is a former American astronaut in NASA’s Space Shuttle program.

William Shepherd

• Birthday: 07/26/1949
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 12/02/1988
• Last Flight: 10/31/2000

William McMichael “Bill” Shepherd is an American former Navy SEAL, aerospace, ocean, and mechanical engineer, and NASA astronaut who served as Commander of Expedition 1, the first crew on the International Space Station. He is also a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

STS-41

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

STS-41 was the eleventh mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The four-day mission with a primary objective the launch the Ulysses probe as part of the International Solar Polar Mission.

Launch Complex 39B

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39B has witnessed the launch of 58 rockets, including 57 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.