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STS-51
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STS-51 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission that launched the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) in September 1993. Discovery's 17th 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 mount

Key facts

Spaceflight.launch_site
Kennedy, LC-39B
Spaceflight.name
STS-51
Spaceflight.names_list
Space Transportation System-51
Spaceflight.image
1993 s51 IMAX view of Discovery from Spas.JPG
Spaceflight.image_caption
IMAX photography of Discovery in orbit, viewed from the free-flying SPAS-ORFEUS astronomy platform
Spaceflight.mission_type
Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) satellite deploymentAstronomy
Spaceflight.operator
NASA
Spaceflight.mission_duration
9 days, 20 hours, 11 minutes, 6 seconds (achieved)
Spaceflight.orbits_completed
157
Spaceflight.launch_date
September 12, 1993, 11:45:00 UTC
Spaceflight.launch_contractor
Rockwell International
Spaceflight.landing_date
September 22, 1993, 07:56:06UTC
Spaceflight.landing_site
Kennedy, SLF Runway 15
Spaceflight.crew_size
5
Spaceflight.orbit_reference
Geocentric orbit
Spaceflight.orbit_regime
Low Earth orbit
Spaceflight.orbit_inclination
28.45°
Spaceflight.orbit_period
90.60 minutes

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Duration
850271
Mass
18947
Orbital period
90.6
Image
1993 s51 IMAX view of Discovery from Spas.JPG
Show 8 more facts
Commons category
STS-51
UTC date of spacecraft launch
1993-09-12
orbits completed
157
UTC date of spacecraft landing
1993-09-22
Commons gallery
STS-51
orbital inclination
28.45
periapsis
300
apoapsis
308
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via Wikidata · CC0

~12 min read

Article

13 sections
Contents
  • Crew
  • Crew seat assignments
  • Launch Preparations
  • Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS)
  • SPAS-ORFEUS
  • Extravehicular activity (EVA)
  • Spacewalk
  • Secondary experiments
  • Mission insignia
  • Documentary
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

STS-51 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission that launched the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) in September 1993. Discovery's 17th 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. Full triple-redundant 3-string GPS would not happen until 14 years later with STS-118 in 2007.

== Crew ==

Gallery (12)

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