STS-34

STS-34 was an Atlantis mission that deployed NASA's Galileo spacecraft toward Jupiter. Donald E. Williams commanded the flight, Michael J. McCulley served as pilot, and Shannon W. Lucid, Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, and Ellen S. Baker served as mission specialists. Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B on October 18, 1989, and landed on Runway 23 at Edwards Air Force Base on October 23. The crew deployed Galileo with its attached Inertial Upper Stage six hours and 30 minutes into the mission, beginning a gravity-assist journey via Venus and Earth toward Jupiter. STS-34 also carried the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet experiment and several middeck science and technology investigations.