STS-34

STS-34

Galileo being deployed from Atlantis.
Mission type	Spacecraft deployment
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1989-084A
SATCAT №	20297
Mission duration	4 days, 23 hours, 39 minutes, 20 seconds
Distance travelled	2,900,000 kilometres (1,800,000 mi)
Orbits completed	79
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch mass	116,831 kilograms (257,568 lb)
Landing mass	88,881 kilograms (195,949 lb)
Payload mass	22,064 kilograms (48,643 lb)
Crew
Crew size	5
Members	Donald E. Williams Michael J. McCulley Shannon W. Lucid Franklin R. Chang-Diaz Ellen S. Baker
Start of mission
Launch date	18 October 1989, 16:53:40 (1989-10-18UTC16:53:40Z) UTC
Launch site	Kennedy LC-39B
End of mission
Landing date	23 October 1989, 16:33:00 (1989-10-23UTC16:34Z) UTC
Landing site	Edwards Runway 23
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	298 kilometres (185 mi)
Apogee	307 kilometres (191 mi)
Inclination	34.3 degrees
Period	90.6 min
Back row, L-R: Williams and McCulley. Front row, L-R: Lucid, Chang-Diaz, Baker. Space Shuttle program ← STS-28 STS-33 →

Back row, L-R: Williams and McCulley. Front row, L-R: Lucid, Chang-Diaz, Baker.

STS-34 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission using Atlantis. It was the 31st shuttle mission overall, and the fifth flight for Atlantis. STS-34 launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 18 October 1989, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 23 October. During the mission, the Jupiter-bound Galileo probe was deployed into space.

Atlantis lifted off from Pad B, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 12:53 EDT on 18 October 1989. It carried the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft in its cargo bay. The countdown was delayed at T-minus 5 minutes for 3 minutes and 40 seconds to update the onboard computer for a change in the Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) site. The TAL site was changed from Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco, to Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, because of heavy rain at Ben Guerir.