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STS-26

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Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Communications

Low Earth Orbit Launch Complex 39B Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

STS-26 was the twenty-sixth space shuttle mission and the seventh flight of the orbiter Discovery. It was the return to flight mission after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. It was the first to have all of its crew members wear pressure suits for launch and landing since STS-4 and the first mission with bailout capability since STS-4. It was also the first all-veteran crew mission since Apollo-11 with all of its crew having flown at least on prior mission.

Space Shuttle

Family:
Configuration:

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    56.1 m
  • Diameter
    8.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    2030.0 T
  • Thrust
    28200.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Space Shuttle
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Space Shuttle
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $450000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    27500.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Space Shuttle Discovery


In-active Human Rated Crew On-board: 5 Crew Capacity: 7 Payload Capacity: 27500 kg
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Serial Number: OV-103

Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, gathering more spaceflights than any other spacecraft to date. Discovery became the third operational orbiter to enter service, preceded by Columbia and Challenger. It embarked on its last mission, STS-133, on February 24, 2011 and touched down for the final time at Kennedy Space Center on March 9, having spent a cumulative total of almost a full year in space. Discovery performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions. It also carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. Discovery was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by Endeavour and then Atlantis.

Space Shuttle Details

Crew


Frederick "Rick" Hauck

Commander - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: April 11, 1941
Age: 84

Richard O. Covey

Pilot - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Aug. 1, 1946
Age: 79

George Nelson

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: July 13, 1950
Age: 75

John M. Lounge

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: June 28, 1946
Date of Death: March 1, 2011

David Hilmers

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Jan. 28, 1950
Age: 75

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA)

Acting Administrator: James Free Founded: 1958 Successes: 121 Failures: 20 Pending: 6

Agency Type:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

INFO WIKI

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39B


Electron
In Flight
13 hours, 14 minutes ago
JENNA
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) - Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

Sub-orbital launch under Rocket Lab’s Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) program, details TBD.


Falcon 9
Success
19 hours, 36 minutes ago
NROL-48
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

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


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 2 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-27
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 20 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-12
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


New Shepard
Success
5 days ago
NS-35
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

NS-35 is the 35th flight for the New Shepard program. This flight will fly more than 40 scientific and research payloads to space and back, including…


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 3 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-61
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2C/YZ-1S
Success
1 week ago
SatNet test satellites
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Officially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellite(s)". Probably test satellites for the Chinese state-owned LEO commu…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Cygnus CRS-2 NG-23 (S.S. William “Willie” C. McCool)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

This is the 23rd flight of the Northrop Grumman's uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its 22nd flight to the International Space Station under th…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 17-10
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Glonass-K1 No. 18 (Kosmos 2595) & Kosmos 2596
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Glonass-K1 are the third generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite navigation system. GLONASS is a Russian space-based navigation system c…