STS-61

STS-61

Musgrave being raised to the top of Hubble by Canadarm, as it sits in Endeavour's payload bay.
Names	Space Transportation System-61
Mission type	First Hubble Space Telescope servicing
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1993-075A
SATCAT no.	22917
Mission duration	10 days, 19 hours, 58 minutes, 33 seconds (achieved)
Distance travelled	7,135,464 km (4,433,772 mi)
Orbits completed	163
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch mass	113,541 kg (250,315 lb)
Landing mass	94,972 kg (209,377 lb)
Payload mass	8,011 kg (17,661 lb)
Crew
Crew size	7
Members	Richard O. Covey Ken Bowersox Kathryn C. Thornton Claude Nicollier Jeffrey A. Hoffman Story Musgrave Thomas D. Akers
Start of mission
Launch date	December 2, 1993, 09:27:00 UTC
Rocket	Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch site	Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	December 13, 1993, 05:25:33 UTC
Landing site	Kennedy Space Center, SLF Runway 33
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	291 km (181 mi)
Apogee altitude	576 km (358 mi)
Inclination	28.45°
Period	93.30 minutes
Capture of Hubble Space Telescope
RMS capture	December 4, 1993, 08:48 UTC
Berthing date	December 4, 1993, 09:26 UTC
RMS release	December 9, 1993, 10:26 UTC
STS-61 mission patch Standing: Covey, Hoffman, Akers Seated: Bowersox, Thornton, Musgrave, Nicollier Space Shuttle program ← STS-58 (58) STS-60 (60) →

STS-61 was NASA's first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The mission launched on December 2, 1993, from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The mission restored the spaceborne observatory's vision (marred by spherical aberration in its mirror) with the installation of a new main camera and a corrective optics package (COSTAR). This correction occurred more than three and a half years after the Hubble was launched aboard STS-31 in April 1990. The flight also brought instrument upgrades and new solar arrays to the telescope. With its very heavy workload, the STS-61 mission was one of the most complex in the Shuttle's history.

STS-61 lasted almost 11 days, and crew members made five spacewalks (extravehicular activities (EVAs)), an all-time record; even the re-positioning of Intelsat VI on STS-49 in May 1992 required only four. The flight plan allowed for two additional EVAs, which could have raised the total number to seven; the final two contingency EVAs were not made. In order to complete the mission without too much fatigue, the five EVAs were shared between two pairs of different astronauts alternating their shifts. During the flight, mission specialist Jeffrey A. Hoffman also spun a dreidel for the holiday of Hanukkah to a live audience watching via satellite.