STS-41

Richard N. Richards

• Birthday: 08/24/1946
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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 ...

Robert D. Cabana

• Birthday: 01/23/1949
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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 S...

Bruce E. Melnick

• Birthday: 12/05/1949
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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 ...

Thomas Akers

• Birthday: 05/20/1951
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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: United States of America
• 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 N...

Mission

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.

Location

Launch Complex 39B

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Find the best place to watch the launch from Florida

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 266 rocket launches.

The John F. Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of NASA's ten field centers. Since 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).

Rocket

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.

Learn more about the Space Shuttle