STS-51-G

Daniel Brandenstein

• Birthday: 01/17/1943
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/30/1983
• Last Flight: 05/07/1992

Daniel Charles Brandenstein is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of United Space Alliance. He is a former Naval Aviator, test pilot and NASA astronaut, who flew four Space Shuttle missions.

John Oliver Creighton

• Birthday: 04/28/1943
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/17/1985
• Last Flight: 09/12/1991

John Oliver Creighton is a former NASA astronaut who flew three Space Shuttle missions.

Patrick Baudry

• Birthday: 03/06/1946
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: French
• First Flight: 06/17/1985
• Last Flight: 06/17/1985

Patrick Pierre Roger Baudry (born March 6, 1946 in Cameroon), is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the French Air Force and a former CNES astronaut. In 1985, he became the second French citizen in space, after Jean-Loup Chrétien, when he flew aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle mission STS-51-G.

Sultan bin Salman Al Saud

• Birthday: 06/27/1956
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: Saudi Arabian
• First Flight: 06/17/1985
• Last Flight: 06/17/1985

Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (born 27 June 1956) is a former Royal Saudi Air Force pilot who flew aboard the American STS-51-G Space Shuttle mission as a payload specialist, and a member of the House of Saud. He is thus the first member of a royal family to be an astronaut, and the first Arab and Muslim to fly in space.

John M. Fabian

• Birthday: 01/28/1939
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/18/1983
• Last Flight: 06/17/1985

John McCreary Fabian is a former NASA astronaut, Air Force officer, and director who flew two space shuttle missions and on the development of the shuttle’s robotic arm. He later led the Air Force’s space operations.

Steven R. Nagel

• Birthday: 10/27/1946
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/17/1985
• Last Flight: 04/26/1993

Steven Ray Nagel was an American astronaut, aeronautical and mechanical engineer, test pilot, and a United States Air Force pilot.

Shannon Lucid

• Birthday: 01/14/1943
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/17/1985
• Last Flight: 03/22/1996

Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid is an American biochemist and a retired NASA astronaut. At one time, she held the record for the longest duration stay in space by an American, as well as by a woman. She has flown in space five times including a prolonged mission aboard the Mir space station in 1996; she is the only American woman to have served aboard Mir.

STS-51-G

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

STS-51-G was the eighteenth flight of the shuttle program and fifth for Space Shuttle Discovery. Sultan Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia was on board as a payload specialist; he became the first Arab, the first Muslim and first member of a royal family to fly into space. It was the first shuttle flight to fly without an astronaut from the pre-Shuttle era. Its mission was to deploy 3 10 satellites.

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.