#sts-31

STS-31 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV-103), glides toward EAFB landing

"Low angle view of the Space Shuttle Discovery as it approaches for landing on a concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base to complete a highly successful five-day mission. It was a long awaited Earth orbital flight during which the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was sent toward its 15-year mission. Discovery's wheels came to a complete stop at 6:51:00 a.m. (PDT), April 29, 1990. The landing gear was deployed just moments after this frame was exposed. Inside the spacecraft for STS-31 were astronauts Loren J. Shriver, Charles F. Bolden, Bruce McCandless II, Kathryn D. Sullivan and Steven A. Hawley."

Date: April 29, 1990

Rest in peace Capt. Bruce McCandless II (June 8, 1937 - December 21, 2017), naval aviator, engineer, NASA astronaut, and the first human to perform a tether-free spacewalk.

April 25th, 1990 - OV-103 Discovery deploys the Hubble Space Telescope day-one into STS-31. 

Due to an incorrectly ground main mirror, Hubble’s images of distant galaxies would be smudges or blurs until a servicing mission, STS-61, in 1993 installed ‘corrective lenses’ to sharpen Hubble’s focus. Since STS-61, HST has brought us wonderful images of distant stars and galaxies that continue to awe us.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1994/01/image/a/

STS-31 also saw the use of a hand-held IMAX camera like this one to film the crew for the 1994 documentary Destiny in Space, showcasing the daily lives of the Astronauts and how they live and work in microgravity.

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2214.html

"STS-31 Discovery (OV-103), lifts off from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex (LC) 39 Pad B. Discovery, carrying a five-member crew and the Hubble Space Telescope, lifted off at 8:34 a.m. EDT, April 24. STS-31 crew members are: Commander Loren Shriver; Pilot Charles Bolden; and Mission Specialists Steven Hawley, Bruce McCandless II, and Kathryn Sullivan.

In the foreground, STS-35 Columbia (OV-102), is visible on launch pad 39A. Columbia, with its Astro-1 observatory, was scheduled for launch in May.

This event marked the first time since January 1986 that there was an orbiter on each pad. LC 39 pads are separated by 1.6 miles."

Date: April 24, 1990

Untethered: Humanity’s first free flying astronaut, Bruce McCandless, passes away aged 80

Bruce McCandless, the first person to fly free and untethered in space has passed away at the age of 80. Photo Credit: NASA

The first person to conduct a free, untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless II, has passed away at the age of 80. McCandless was a naval aviator and the son of a U.S. Medal of Honor recipient who served as the CAPCOM when Neil Armstrong successfully placed humanity’s first…