STS-51

Frank L. Culbertson Jr.

• Birthday: 05/15/1949
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 11/15/1990
• Last Flight: 08/10/2001

Frank Lee Culbertson Jr. is an American former naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and NASA astronaut....

William F. Readdy

• Birthday: 01/24/1952
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 01/22/1992
• Last Flight: 09/16/1996

William Francis Readdy is a former Associate Administrator of the Office of Space Flight, at NASA Headquarters.
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Carl E. Walz

• Birthday: 09/06/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 09/12/1993
• Last Flight: 12/05/2001

Carl Erwin Walz is a former NASA astronaut currently working for Orbital Sciences Corporation's Advanced Programs Group as Vi...

Daniel W. Bursch

• Birthday: 07/25/1957
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 09/12/1993
• Last Flight: 12/05/2001

Daniel Wheeler Bursch is a former NASA astronaut, and Captain of the United States Navy. He had four spaceflights, the first ...

James H. Newman

• Birthday: 10/16/1956
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 09/12/1993
• Last Flight: 03/01/2002

James Hansen Newman, Ph.D. is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions.

Mission

STS-51

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

STS-51 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission that launched the Advanced 10 Technology Satellite (ACTS) in September 1993. The flight also featured the deployment and retrieval of the SPAS-ORFEUS satellite and its IMAX camera, which captured spectacular footage of Discovery in space. A spacewalk was also performed during the mission to evaluate tools and techniques for the STS-61 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission later that year.

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