STS-61-G

STS-61-G

Names	Space Transportation System
Mission type	Galileo spacecraft deployment
Operator	NASA
Mission duration	4 days, 1 hour, 11 minutes (planned)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Atlantis (planned)
Launch mass	116,831 kg (257,568 lb)
Landing mass	88,881 kg (195,949 lb)
Payload mass	22,064 kg (48,643 lb)
Crew
Crew size	4 (planned)
Members	David M. Walker Ronald J. Grabe Norman E. Thagard James D. A. "OX" van Hoften
Start of mission
Launch date	20 May 1986, 20:21:00 UTC (planned) - Never launched
Rocket	Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch site	Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	24 May 1986, 21:32:00 UTC (planned)
Landing site	Kennedy Space Center
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit (planned)
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	298 km (185 mi)
Apogee altitude	307 km (191 mi)
Inclination	34.30°
Period	90.60 minutes
STS-61-G mission patch David M. Walker, Ronald J. Grabe, Norman E. Thagard, James D. A. "OX" van Hoften Space Shuttle program Cancelled Shuttle missions

STS-61-G was a NASA Space Shuttle mission planned to launch on 20 May 1986, using Atlantis. The main objective of this mission was to launch the Galileo spacecraft toward Jupiter using the Centaur-G upper stage. It was canceled after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Crew

Position	Astronaut
Commander	David M. Walker Would have been second spaceflight
Pilot	Ronald J. Grabe Would have been second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1	Norman E. Thagard Would have been third spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2	James D. A. "OX" van Hoften Would have been third spaceflight

Crew notes

John M. Fabian was scheduled to fly as Mission Specialist 1 on his third trip to space, but he took advice from his wife who had earlier told him that "his marriage had a two-flight limit", he soon resigned from this mission.^[1] His replacement was Norman E. Thagard.^[2] Most of the crew sans van Hoften flew on STS-30 in May 1989, with Mary L. Cleave taking the place of van Hoften and the addition of rookie Mark C. Lee. Galileo was launched on STS-34 in October 1989, using the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster instead of the Centaur-G (which was canceled in 1986).

See also

• Canceled Space Shuttle missions
• STS-30
• STS-34

References

1. "John M. Fabian, Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, Houston, Texas – 10 February 2006". NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project - Edited Oral History Transcript. NASA. 10 February 2006. Retrieved 29 January 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. "The new shuttle crews are named". Lodi News-Sentinel. 20 September 1985. Retrieved 29 January 2022.