STS-51

STS-51 was a September 1993 Space Shuttle Discovery mission that deployed the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite with its Transfer Orbit Stage and the ORFEUS-SPAS far- and extreme-ultraviolet astronomy platform. Frank Culbertson commanded the five-person crew, with William Readdy as pilot and James Newman, Daniel Bursch, and Carl Walz as mission specialists. The crew deployed ACTS on the first flight day, then deployed ORFEUS-SPAS on the second day for several days of astronomical observations before retrieving it with Discovery's robotic arm. James Newman and Carl Walz also completed a 7 hour, 5 minute, 28 second EVA that evaluated tools, tethers, and foot-restraint hardware for the coming Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B on September 12, 1993, and landed on Runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility on September 22 after 9 days, 20 hours, 11 minutes, and 11 seconds in orbit.