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STS-41-D was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was the 12th shuttle mission, and the first flight for Discovery.

1 Crew

• Henry Hartsfield (2), Jr., Commander
• Michael Coats (1), Pilot
• Judith Resnik (1), Mission Specialist 1
• Steven Hawley (1), Mission Specialist 2
• Richard Mullane (1), Mission Specialist 3
• Charles Walker (1), Payload Specialist 1

2 Mission Parameters

• Mass:
  • Orbiter Liftoff: 119,511 kg
  • Orbiter Landing: 91,476 kg
  • Payload: 21,552 kg
• Perigee: 300 km
• Apogee: 307 km
• Inclination: 28.5°
• PeriodA period is an arbitrary interval of time. The word is applied to many different concepts: generally, in science, the time taken for one complete cycle of an alternating quantity. The period of oscillation of a wave is the time taken for the wave to compl: 90.6 min

3 Mission highlights

The orbiter Discovery was launched on its maiden flight --the 12th in the program -- on Aug. 30, 1984This page is about the year 1984. For other uses of 1984, see 1984 (disambiguation). 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday (link shows calendar). Events January January 1 Brunei becomes a fully independent state January 1 AT&T is broken up into 22 indepe. It was the third orbiter built and the lightest one thus far because of its lightweight thermal blanket material.

The mission was originally planned for June 25, but because of a variety of technical problems, including rollback to the VABThe Vehicle (originally Vertical Assembly Building or VAB is a very large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, halfway between Jacksonville and Miami, and due east of Orlando on Cape Canaveral, on the Atlantic coast of Florida. It is one of the world' to replace a main engine, the launch did not take place until 8:41 a.m. EDT, Aug. 30, after a 6-minute, 50-2nd delay when a private aircraft flew into the restricted air space near the launch pad. It was the fourth launch attempt for Discovery.

Because of the 2-month delay, the STS 41-F mission was cancelled (STS 41-E had already been cancelled) and its primary payloads were included on the STS 41-D flight. The combined cargo weighed over 47,000 lb., a Space Shuttle record up to that time.

The six-person flight crew consisted of Henry W. Hartsfield Jr., commander, making his second Shuttle mission; pilot Michael L. Coats; three mission specialists: -- Judith A. Resnik, Richard M. Mullane and Steven A. Hawley; and a payload specialist, Charles D. Walker, an employee of the McDonnell DouglasMcDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It has been part of Boeing since 1997. The company was founded from the firms of James Smith McDonnell and Donald Wills Douglas. Corp. Walker was the first commercially-sponsored payload specialist to fly aboard the Shuttle.

The primary cargo consisted of three communications satellites, SBS-D for Satellite Business Systems , TelstarAlternate use: Coleco Telstar, Telstar Records Telstar was the first active communications satellite, the first satellite designed to transmit telephone and high-speed data communications, as well as the first privately owned satellite. Its name is used t 3-C for Telesat of Canada and SYNCOM IV-2, or Leasat-2, a Hughes-built satellite leased to the Navy. Leasat-2 was the first large communications satellite designed specifically to be deployed from the Space Shuttle. All three satellites were deployed successfully and became operational.

Another payload was the OAST -l solar arraySolar panels are devices consisting of solar cells that convert light into electricity. They are called solar after the sun or "Sol" because the sun is the most powerful source of the light available for use. The solar cells are sometimes called photovolt, a device 13 feet wide, and 102 feet high, which folded into a package 7 inches deep. The wing carried a number of different types of experimental solar cells and was extended to its full height several times. It was the largest structure ever extended from a manned spacecraft and demonstrated the feasibility of large lightweight solar arrays for future application to large facilities in space such as the Space Station.

The McDonnell Douglas-sponsored Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES) experiment, using living cells, was more elaborate then the one flown previously and payload specialist Walker operated it for more than 100 hours during the flight. A student experiment to study crystal growth in microgravity was carried out, an the IMAX motion picture camera was operated during much of the flight.

The mission lasted 6 days, 56 minutes, with landing on Runway 17 at

miles and made 97 orbits. It was transported back to KSC on Sept. 10.