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.