"6_2_2_3_13.TXT" (2798 bytes) was created on 01-02-89

STS 41-D

        The orbiter Discovery was launched on its maiden flight --the 12th
in the program -- on Aug. 30, 1984.  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 VAB 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 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, Telstar 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 array, 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
Edwards AFB, at 6:37 a.m. PDT, on Sept. 5.  It traveled 2.21 million
miles and made 97 orbits.  It was transported back to KSC on Sept. 10.