View source for STS-51-G

{{Short description|1985 American crewed spaceflight to deploy communications satellites}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name               = STS-51-G
| names_list         = [[Space Transportation System]]-18
| image              = STS-51-G Morelos 1 deployment.jpg
| image_caption      = ''Discovery'' deploys [[Morelos Satellite System|Morelos-1]].
| mission_type       = Satellites deployment
| operator           = [[NASA]]
| mission_duration   = {{time interval|June 17, 1985, 11:33:00|June 24, 1985, 13:11:52|show=dhms|sep=,}}
| distance_travelled = {{cvt|4693051|km}}
| orbits_completed   = 112
| spacecraft         = {{OV|103}}
| launch_mass        = {{cvt|116357|kg}}
| landing_mass       = {{cvt|92610|kg}}
| payload_mass       = {{cvt|17280|kg}}
| crew_size          = 7
| crew_members       = {{Unbulleted list|[[Daniel Brandenstein|Daniel C. Brandenstein]]|[[John Oliver Creighton|John O. Creighton]]|[[Shannon Lucid|Shannon W. Lucid]]|[[Steven R. Nagel]]|[[John M. Fabian]]|[[Patrick Baudry]]|[[Sultan bin Salman Al Saud]]}}
| launch_date        = {{Start date|June 17, 1985, 11:33:00|timezone=yes}}{{nbsp}}[[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]] (7:33{{nbsp}}am{{nbsp}}[[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]])
| launch_site        = [[Kennedy Space Center|Kennedy]], [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A|LC-39A]]
| launch_contractor  = [[Rockwell International]]
| landing_date       = {{End date|June 24, 1985, 13:11:52|timezone=yes}}{{nbsp}}UTC (6:11:52{{nbsp}}am{{nbsp}}[[Pacific Daylight Time|PDT]])
| landing_site       = [[Edwards Air Force Base|Edwards]], Runway{{nbsp}}23
| orbit_reference    = [[Geocentric orbit]]<ref name="Trajectory">{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/displayTrajectory.action?id=1985-048A|title=Trajectory: STS-51G (1985-048A) |publisher=NASA|date=January 7, 2022|access-date=January 23, 2022}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>
| orbit_regime       = [[Low Earth orbit]]
| orbit_periapsis    = {{cvt|353|km}}
| orbit_apoapsis     = {{cvt|359|km}}
| orbit_inclination  = 28.45°
| orbit_period       = 91.70 minutes
| apsis              = gee
| instruments        = {{ubl|Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF)|French Echocardiograph Experiment (FEE)|French Postural Experiment (FPE)|High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE)|Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for AstroNomy (SPARTAN-1)}}
| insignia           = Sts-51-g-patch.png
| insignia_caption   = STS-51-G mission patch
| crew_photo         = Portrait of STS 51-G crew.jpg
| crew_photo_caption = Back: [[Shannon Lucid|Lucid]], [[Steven R. Nagel|Nagel]], [[John M. Fabian|Fabian]], [[Sultan bin Salman Al Saud|Al&nbsp;Saud]] and [[Patrick Baudry|Baudry]]<br/>Front: [[Daniel Brandenstein|Brandenstein]] and [[John Oliver Creighton|Creighton]]
| programme          = [[Space Shuttle program]]
| previous_mission   = [[STS-51-B]] (17)
| next_mission       = [[STS-51-F]] (19)
}}
'''STS-51-G''' was the 18th flight of [[NASA]]'s [[Space Shuttle program]], and the fifth flight of [[Space Shuttle Discovery|Space Shuttle ''Discovery'']]. The seven-day mission launched from [[Kennedy Space Center]], [[Florida]], on June 17, 1985, and landed at [[Edwards Air Force Base]], [[California]], on June 24, 1985. [[Sultan bin Salman Al Saud]] from [[Saudi Arabia]] was on board as a [[payload specialist]]; Al Saud became the first [[Arab]], the first [[Muslim]], and the first member of a [[royal family]] to fly into space.<ref name="ARAMCO">{{cite web |url=https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/198601/a.prince.in.space.htm|title=A prince in space|edition=January/February 1986|pages=20–29|access-date=January 23, 2022}}</ref> It was also the first Space Shuttle mission which flew without at least one astronaut from the pre-Shuttle era among its crew.
== Crew ==
{{Spaceflight crew
| terminology = Astronaut
| position1   = Commander
| crew1_up    = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Daniel Brandenstein|Daniel C. Brandenstein]]
| flights1_up = Second
| position2   = Pilot
| crew2_up    = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[John Oliver Creighton|John O. Creighton]]
| flights2_up = First
| position3   = Mission Specialist 1
| crew3_up    = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[John M. Fabian]]
| flights3_up = Second and last
| position4   = Mission Specialist 2<br>Flight Engineer
| crew4_up    = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Steven R. Nagel]]
| flights4_up = First
| position5   = Mission Specialist 3
| crew5_up    = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Shannon Lucid|Shannon W. Lucid]]
| flights5_up = First
| position6   = Payload Specialist 1
| crew6_up    = {{Flagicon|FRA}} [[Patrick Baudry]]
| flights6_up = Only
| agency6_up  = [[CNES]]
| position7   = Payload Specialist 2
| crew7_up    = {{Flagicon|SAU}} [[Sultan bin Salman Al Saud]]
| flights7_up = Only
| agency7_up  = [[Royal Saudi Air Force|RSAF]]
| notes       = Al Saud became the first member of royalty to fly into space,<br>as well as the first Arab and the first Muslim.
}}
=== Backup crew ===
{{Spaceflight crew
| terminology = Astronaut
| position6   = Payload Specialist 1
| crew6_up    = {{Flagicon|FRA}} [[Jean-Loup Chrétien]]
| agency6_up  = [[CNES]]
| position7   = Payload Specialist 2
| crew7_up    = {{Flagicon|SAU}} [[Abdulmohsen Al-Bassam]]
| agency7_up  = [[Royal Saudi Air Force|RSAF]]
}}
=== Crew seat assignments ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Seat<ref name="SF51G">{{cite web|title=STS-51G|url=http://spacefacts.de/mission/english/sts-51g.htm|publisher=Spacefacts|access-date=January 23, 2021}}</ref>
! Launch
! Landing
|rowspan=8| [[File:Space Shuttle seating plan.svg|150px]]<br />Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.<br />Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
|-
! 1
|colspan=2| Brandenstein
|-
! 2
|colspan=2| Creighton
|-
! 3
| Lucid
| Fabian
|-
! 4
|colspan=2| Nagel
|-
! 5
| Fabian
| Lucid
|-
! 6
|colspan=2| Baudry
|-
! 7
|colspan=2| Al Saud
|}
== Mission summary ==
''Discovery'' lifted off from [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A|Launch Complex 39A]], [[Kennedy Space Center]] (KSC), at 7:33 a.m. [[Eastern Time Zone|EDT]] on June 17, 1985. The mission's crew members included [[Daniel Brandenstein|Daniel C. Brandenstein]], commander; [[John Oliver Creighton|John O. Creighton]], pilot; [[Shannon Lucid|Shannon W. Lucid]], [[Steven R. Nagel]], and [[John M. Fabian]], mission specialists; and [[Patrick Baudry]], from [[France]], and Prince Sultan [[Sultan bin Salman Al Saud]], from [[Saudi Arabia]], both payload specialists.
STS-51-G carried three [[communications satellite]]s as its primary cargo. These were [[Arabsat-1B]] ([[Arab Satellite Communications Organization]]); [[Morelos Satellite System|Morelos-1]] ([[Mexico]]); and [[Telstar 303|Telstar-303]] ([[AT&T Corporation]]); all three were Hughes-built satellites. All three successfully utilized [[Payload Assist Module]] (PAM-D) booster stages to achieve [[geostationary transfer orbit]]s (GTO) after being deployed from ''Discovery''.
Also carried was the SPARTAN-1 (Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for AstroNomy) a deployable/retrievable carrier module, designed to be deployed from the orbiter and fly free in space before being retrieved. SPARTAN-1 included {{cvt|140|kg}} of astronomy experiments. It was deployed and operated successfully, independent of the orbiter, before being retrieved. ''Discovery'' furthermore carried an experimental materials-processing furnace, two French biomedical experiments (French Echocardiograph Experiment (FEE) and French Postural Experiment (FPE)),<ref name="SF51G"/> and six [[Getaway Special]] (GAS) experiments, which were all successfully performed, although the GO34 Getaway Special shut down prematurely. This mission was also the first flight test of the OEX advanced autopilot which gave the orbiter capabilities above and beyond those of the baseline system.
The mission's final payload element was a High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE) for the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] (SDI) (nicknamed "Star Wars"); the HPTE failed to deploy properly during its first try on the mission's 37th orbit, because the orbiter was not at the correct attitude. It was successfully deployed on orbit 64.
''Discovery'' landed at [[Edwards Air Force Base]] at 9:11:52 a.m. EDT on June 24, 1985, after a mission duration of 7 days, 1 hour, 38 minutes, and 52 seconds.
== Mission Insignia ==
The STS-51-G insignia illustrates the advances in aviation technology in the United States within a relatively short span of the twentieth century with ''Discovery'' flying over the ''[[Wright Flyer]]''. A gold-and-orange-flame eagle forms the base of the insigna. The surnames of the crewmembers for the ''Discovery''{{'}}s mission appear near the center edge of the circular design, with the French and Saudi crewmembers added below, with a respective flag icon along their name. Although Baudry was the first French citizen to fly with a Space Shuttle mission into space, he was only the second Frenchman to go to space, following [[Jean-Loup Chrétien]]'s earlier missions with [[Soyuz (spacecraft)|Soyuz capsule]], [[Soyuz T-6]].
== Wake-up calls ==
NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during [[Project Gemini]], and first used music to wake up a flight crew during [[Apollo 15]]. Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.<ref name="chronology">{{cite news|first=Colin|last=Fries|title=Chronology of Wakeup Calls|date=June 25, 2007|publisher=NASA|url=https://history.nasa.gov/wakeup%20calls.pdf|access-date=August 13, 2007|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220093919/https://history.nasa.gov/wakeup%20calls.pdf|url-status=dead}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Flight Day
! Song
! Artist/Composer
|-
| Day 2
| "[[Eye in the Sky (song)]]"
| [[The Alan Parsons Project]]
|-
| Day 3
| "[[Proud Mary]]"
| [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]
|-
| Day 4
| "[[Sailing (Christopher Cross song)|Sailing]]"
| [[Christopher Cross]]
|-
| Day 5
| "[[Jonathan Livingston Seagull]]"
| [[Neil Diamond]]
|-
| Day 6
| "[[Wedding March]]"
| [[Felix Mendelssohn]]
|}
== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:STS-51-G Arabsat 1-B deployment.jpg|Arabsat-1B deployment
Image:STS-51-G Morelos 1 deployment.jpg|Morelos-1 deployment
Image:STS-51-G Telstar 3-D deployment.jpg|Telstar-303 deployment
Image:STS-51-G Spartan 1.jpg|SPARTAN-1 after deployment
</gallery>
== See also ==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
* [[List of human spaceflights]]
* [[List of Space Shuttle missions]]
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
== External links ==
* [http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-g/mission-51-g.html NASA mission summary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016224150/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-g/mission-51-g.html |date=October 16, 2008 }}
* [http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle18.htm STS-51G Video Highlights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921110440/http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle18.htm |date=September 21, 2013 }}
{{Space Shuttle Discovery}}
{{All U.S. Space Shuttle Missions}}
{{Orbital launches in 1985}}
[[Category:Space Shuttle missions]]
[[Category:Edwards Air Force Base]]
[[Category:1985 in spaceflight]]
[[Category:1985 in the United States]]
[[Category:Spacecraft launched in 1985]]
[[Category:Spacecraft which reentered in 1985]]