Circle Image

Gary Payton

American - (USAF)

Retired

Date of Birth: June 20, 1948
Age: 77


Colonel Gary Eugene Payton, USAF, (born June 20, 1948) is an American former astronaut. Payton flew on the STS-51-C mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in January 1985 which launched and returned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. STS-51C was the first dedicated Space Shuttle Department of Defense mission. Payton traveled over 1.2 million miles in 48 Earth orbits, and logged more than 73 hours in space.

Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-51-C

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Jan. 24, 1985, 7:50 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-51-C was the fifteenth flight of the shuttle program and third for the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was the first space shuttle mission dedicated to the United States Department of Defense and therefore, the mission details remain classified.

Low Earth Orbit
Explore Share

Commander-in-Chief: President of the US

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day ago
NROL-179
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fourteenth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Offi…


Ariane 64
Success
2 days, 20 hours ago
Amazon Leo (LE-03)
Ariane Launch Area 4 - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, thi…


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 2 hours ago
BlueBird Block 2 #3-5
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…


Kuaizhou 11
Success
3 days, 4 hours ago
CentiSpace-1 Group 05
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Note: Unofficial reports indicate there may be 1 or more additional satellites that failed to separate from the upper stage, however this is not offi…


Long March 12
Success
3 days, 6 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 22
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…