Crewed spacecraftExpended
STS-41 flight stack
Mission-specific Space Shuttle flight stack
Vehicle and mission dossier
STS-41
STS-41 deployed the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses spacecraft with an Inertial Upper and a mission-specific PAM-S, the first use of that combined upper-stage arrangement. Ulysses traveled via Jupiter to leave the ecliptic and became the first to survey the space environment above and below the Sun's poles.
Flight profile
- Launch
- October 6, 1990
- Landing
- October 10, 1990
- Mission duration
- 4d 02h 10m
Places and recovery
Vehicle record
- Orbiter
- Space Shuttle Discovery
- Mission or test
- STS-41
- Configuration
- , external tank, two , and three main engines
- Status
- Mission hardware disposition recorded by component
- Mission type
- Satellite or observatory deployment and operations
- Crew and station travelers
- 5
- Program
- Space Shuttle
- Crew complement
- 5
- Outcome
- Completed
- Archive classification
- Human spaceflight
- Primary objective
- Space Shuttle Discovery mission that deployed the Ulysses solar-polar spacecraft.
Flight objectives
- Launch Discovery and its crew safely into .
- Space Shuttle Discovery mission that deployed the Ulysses solar-polar spacecraft.
- Complete the mission's assigned payload, , research, deployment, servicing, or logistics work.
- Return Discovery and the landing crew safely to Earth.
Flight timeline
- October 6, 1990LaunchDiscovery began a four-day interplanetary deployment mission.
- Flight day 1Ulysses deployedThe , IUS, and PAM-S stack departed the payload bay.
- Upper-stage sequenceSolar-polar trajectory beginsThe accelerated Ulysses toward a Jupiter and out-of-ecliptic orbit.
- October 10, 1990LandingDiscovery landed at Edwards after completing deployment and secondary experiments.
