STS-41
STS-41 was Discovery's October 1990 mission to deploy Ulysses, the ESA-built solar-polar spacecraft operated jointly with NASA. Richard N. Richards commanded the flight, Robert D. Cabana served as pilot, and Bruce E. Melnick, Thomas D. Akers, and William M. Shepherd served as mission specialists. Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B on October 6 and landed on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base on October 10. The crew deployed Ulysses with an Inertial Upper Stage and mission-specific Payload Assist Module-S, sending it toward a Jupiter gravity assist and the high-inclination trajectory used to study the Sun's polar regions. Secondary payloads included Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet observations and materials, life-science, radiation, and technology experiments.
Alerts are unavailable because this mission is no longer active.
Identity
- Aliases
- STS 41Discovery STS-41Ulysses deploymentSpace Shuttle Discovery flight 11
- Name
- STS-41
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- Description
- STS-41 was Discovery's October 1990 mission to deploy Ulysses, the ESA-built solar-polar spacecraft operated jointly with NASA. Richard N. Richards commanded the flight, Robert D. Cabana served as pilot, and Bruce E. Melnick, Thomas D. Akers, and William M. Shepherd served as mission specialists. Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B on October 6 and landed on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base on October 10. The crew deployed Ulysses with an Inertial Upper Stage and mission-specific Payload Assist Module-S, sending it toward a Jupiter gravity assist and the high-inclination trajectory used to study the Sun's polar regions. Secondary payloads included Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet observations and materials, life-science, radiation, and technology experiments.
- Destination
- Low Earth orbit at approximately 160 nautical miles altitude and 28.45° inclination for deploying Ulysses with an Inertial Upper Stage and Payload Assist Module-S toward its Jupiter gravity-assist trajectory
- End Date
- 1990-10-10
- Landing Facility
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- Successfully deployed Ulysses on its trajectory toward a Jupiter gravity assist and solar-polar orbit.
- Programs
- Start Date
- 1990-10-06
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Official Url
- https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-41/
- Wikipedia Url
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-41
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- April 26, 2026 at 16:15:32 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 23, 2026 at 05:49:25 UTC
- Image
- Download
Other
- Affiliations
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles