STS-61

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

09:27:00

Thursday December 2, 1993

Watch Replay

Official Livestream

Mission Details

STS-61

Wiki

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

Rocket

Retired
Space Shuttle Endeavour

Active 1992 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


59th

Mission

7th

Mission of 1993

1993


80th

Orbital launch attempt