NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

STS-61

Launch Time
Thu Dec 02, 1993 09:27 UTC

Rocket

Space Shuttle Endeavour
NASA
Status: Retired
Price: $450.0 million
Liftoff Thrust: 30,250 kN
Payload to LEO: 27,500 kg
Payload to GTO: 3,810 kg
Stages: 2
Strap-ons: 2
Rocket Height: 56.1 m

Vehicles

Kennedy SLF Runway 33

OV-105

Flight #5
164 day turnaround

Mission Details

STS-61

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.

Total Mass: 10,949.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

Location

LC-39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA

Stats

1993

80th orbital launch attempt

Space Shuttle

59th mission
7th mission of 1993
58th successful mission
34th consecutive successful mission