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Launch Success
Liftoff Time (GMT)
09:27:00
Thursday December 2, 1993
Watch Replay
Official Livestream
STS-61 was the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. The mission restored the spaceborne observatory's vision, marred by spherical aberration, with the installation of a new main camera and a corrective optics package. This correction occurred more than three and a half years after the Hubble was launched aboard STS-31 in April 1990. The flight also brought instrument upgrades and new solar arrays to the telescope. With its very heavy workload, the STS-61 mission was one of the most complex in the Shuttle's history. It lasted almost 11 days, and crew members made five spacewalks (EVAs), an all-time record.
Low Earth Orbit
10,949 kilograms
Agency
NASAPrice
$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
59th
Mission
7th
Mission of 1993
80th
Orbital launch attempt