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ArchivesText SizeSTS-31 Mission: Hubble Space Telescope Deploy
Space Shuttle: Discovery
Launch Pad: 39B 
Launch Weight: 249,109 pounds
Launched: April 24, 1990, 8:33:51 a.m. EDT
Landing Site: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Landing: April 29, 1990, 6:49:57 a.m. PDT
Landing Weight: 189,118 pounds
Runway: 22 
Rollout Distance: 8,874 feet
Rollout Time: 61 seconds
Revolution: 80
Mission Duration: 5 days, 1 hour, 16 minutes, 6 seconds
Returned to KSC: May 7, 1990
Orbit Altitude: 330 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: 28.45 degrees
Miles Traveled: 2.1 million 

Crew Members

                    

Image above: STS-31 Crew photo with Commander Loren J. Shriver, Pilot Charles F. 
Bolden, Jr., Mission Specialists Steven A. Hawley, Bruce McCandless II and 
Kathryn D. Sullivan. Image Credit: NASA 

Launch Highlights

 The launch was scheduled for April 18, then April 12, then April 10, following 
the Flight Readiness Review (FRR). The first date set at FRR was earlier than 
that shown on previous planning schedules. The launch scheduled for April 10 was 
scrubbed at T-4 minutes due to a faulty valve in auxiliary power unit (APU) 
number one. The APU was replaced and payload batteries recharged. Countdown 
briefly halted at T-31 seconds when computer software failed to shut down a fuel 
valve line on ground support equipment. Engineers ordered valve to shut and 
countdown continued.


Mission Highlights

The primary payload, Hubble Space Telescope, deployed in a 380-statute-mile 
orbit. Secondary payloads: IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC) to document operations 
outside crew cabin and hand-held IMAX camera for use inside crew cabin; Ascent 
Particle Monitor (APM) to detect particulate matter in payload bay; Protein 
Crystal Growth (PCG) to provide data on growing protein crystals in 
microgravity; Radiation Monitoring Equipment III (RME III) to measure gamma ray 
levels in crew cabin; Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP) to 
determine porosity control in microgravity environment; Shuttle Student 
Involvement Program (SSIP) experiment to study effects of near-weightlessness on 
electrical arcs, and Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

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