STS-41

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

11:47:15

Saturday October 6, 1990

Watch Replay

Official Livestream

Mission Details

STS-41

Wiki

The primary payload was the ESA-built Ulysses spacecraft to explore the polar regions of Sun. Attached to Ulysses were two upper stages, the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) and a mission-specific Payload Assist Module-S (PAM-S), combined together for first time to send Ulysses toward an out-of-ecliptic trajectory. Other payloads and experiments included the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment, INTELSAT Solar Array Coupon (ISAC), Chromosome and Plant Cell Division Experiment (CHROMEX), Voice Command System (VCS), Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE), Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP), Physiological Systems Experiment (PSE), Radiation Monitoring Experiment III (RME III), Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) and Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS).

Low Earth Orbit

15,362 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Space Shuttle Discovery

Active 1984 to 2011

National Aeronautics and Space Administration logo

Agency

NASA

Price

$450.00 million

Rocket

Height: 56.1m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 27,500 kg

GTO: 3,810 kg

Liftoff Thrust

30,250 Kilonewtons

Stages

2

Strap-ons

2

Launch Site

LC-39B

Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA

Fastest Turnaround

28 days 11 hours

Stats

Space Shuttle


36th

Mission

4th

Mission of 1990

1990


95th

Orbital launch attempt