35 Years Ago: STS-30 Launches Magellan to Venus
NASA Space Technology On Could per chance 4, 1989, residence shuttle Atlantis took off on its third flight, STS-30, from NASA’s Kennedy Place Center (KSC) in Florida. Its 5-person crew of Commander David M. WalkerPilot Ronald J. Grabeand Mission Specialists Brand C. Lee, Norman E. Thagardand Mary L. Lop flew a four-day mission that deployed the Magellan spacecraft, managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, to acknowledge Venus, uniting NASA’s human and interplanetary spaceflight programs. It additionally marked the first U.S. planetary open since 1978. The astronauts deployed Magellan and its upper stage on their first day in residence, sending the spacecraft on its 15-month hasten to Venus. Following its arrival on the cloud-shrouded planet, Magellan spent four years mapping Venus in unparalleled factor, vastly rising our info of the planet. Left:...
