STS-51-J was the 21st

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Space Shuttle 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 na ...

mission and the first flight of Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. It launched from

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, on October 3, 1985, carrying a payload for the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

(DoD), and landed at

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, on October 7, 1985.

Crew

Backup crew

Crew notes

All five astronauts on the secret mission were active-duty military officers. Before William A. Pailes was assigned to the STS-51-J flight,

Mike Mullane Richard Michael Mullane (born September 10, 1945; Col, USAF, Ret.) is an engineer and Weapon Systems Officer, a retired USAF officer, and a former NASA astronaut. During his career, he flew as a mission specialist on STS-41-D, STS-27, and STS ...

was rumored to have been assigned as Mission Specialist 3 on his second trip to space.

Mission summary

STS-51-J launched on October 3, 1985, at 15:15:30 UTC (11:15:30 a.m. EDT), from

Launch Pad 39A Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, were first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle. Ty ...

at the Kennedy Space Center. The launch was delayed by 22 minutes and 30 seconds due to a problem with a main engine

liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen (LH2 or LH2) is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point of 33 K. However, for it to be in a fully li ...

prevalve close remote power controller; the controller was showing a faulty "on" indication. The mission was the second shuttle flight totally dedicated to deploying a United States Department of Defense payload, after

STS-51-C STS-51-C (formerly STS-10) was the 15th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the third flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. It launched on January 24, 1985, and made the fourth shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Janu ...

. Its cargo was classified, but it was reported that two
USA-11
an
USA-12
DSCS-III (

Defense Satellite Communications System The Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) is a United States Space Force satellite constellation that provides the United States with military communications to support globally distributed military users. Beginning in 2007, DSCS is be ...

) satellites were launched into geostationary orbits by an

Inertial Upper Stage The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a two-stage, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for raising payloads from low Earth orbit to h ...

(IUS). The DSCS satellites used

X-band The X band is the designation for a band of frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is rather indefinitely set at approxim ...

frequencies (8/7

GHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

). Each DSCS-III satellite had a design life of ten years, although several of the DSCS satellites have far exceeded their design life expectancy. The mission was deemed successful. After a flight lasting 4 days, 1 hour, 44 minutes and 38 seconds, ''Atlantis'' landed on Runway 23 at

at 17:00:08 UTC (13:00:08 EDT) on October 7, 1985. During STS-51-J, mission commander Bobko became the first astronaut to fly on three different shuttle orbiters, and the only astronaut to fly on the maiden voyages of two different orbiters.

Mission insignia

The 51-J mission insignia, designed by ''Atlantis''s first crew, pays tribute to the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

and the ideas it symbolizes, but also as not to emphasize the "classified" nature of the mission like the first one did. The historical gateway figure bears additional significance for astronauts Karol J. Bobko, mission commander; and Ronald J. Grabe, pilot, both

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

natives.

Gallery

File:STS51J First Flight of Atlantis.jpg, Atlantis lifting off the pad. File:DSCS-III STS-51-J.jpg, Declassified picture showing the DSCS-III satellites before deployment. File:STS51J Atlantis Landing.jpg, Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' lands on the dry desert lakebed of

at the end of the STS-51-J mission.

References

External links

NASA mission summary
{{Orbital launches in 1985 Space Shuttle missions Edwards Air Force Base 1985 in spaceflight 1985 in the United States Spacecraft launched in 1985 Spacecraft which reentered in 1985 Department of Defense Space Shuttle missions October 1985 events