IMAX photography of Discovery in orbit, viewed from the free-flying SPAS-ORFEUS astronomy platform | |
Names | Space Transportation System-51 |
---|---|
Mission type | Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) satellite deployment Astronomy |
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1993-058A |
SATCAT no. | 22795 |
Mission duration | 9 days, 20 hours, 11 minutes, 6 seconds (achieved) |
Distance travelled | 6,608,628 km (4,106,411 mi) |
Orbits completed | 157 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Discovery |
Landing mass | 92,371 kg (203,643 lb) |
Payload mass | 18,947 kg (41,771 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 5 |
Members | |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | September 12, 1993, 11:45:00 UTC |
Launch site | Kennedy, LC-39B |
Contractor | Rockwell International |
End of mission | |
Landing date | September 22, 1993, 07:56:06 UTC |
Landing site | Kennedy, SLF Runway 15 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 300 km (190 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 308 km (191 mi) |
Inclination | 28.45° |
Period | 90.60 minutes |
Instruments | |
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![]() STS-51 mission patch ![]() From left: Culbertson, Bursch, Walz, Readdy and Newman |
STS-51 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission that launched the Advanced Communications 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 (HST) servicing mission later that year. STS-51 was the first shuttle mission to fly a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, a Trimble TANS Quadrex. It was mounted in an overhead window where limited field of view (FoV) and signal attenuation from the glass severely impacted receiver performance.[1] Full triple-redundant 3-string GPS would not happen until 14 years later with STS-118 in 2007.