Mission Summary
Discovery launched at 6:58 am EDT on 27 August 1985. Two earlier launch attempts, one on 24 August and another on 25 August, were scrubbed – the first because of poor weather, and the second because the backup orbiter computer failed and had to be replaced. The successful launch on 27 August took place just as an approaching storm front reached the launch pad area.
The five-man STS 51-I crew included Joe H. Engle, commander; Richard O. Covey, pilot; and James van Hoften, John M. Lounge, and William F. Fisher, mission specialists. Their primary mission was to deploy three commercial communications satellites and retrieve and repair the SYNCOM IV-3 satellite, which had been deployed during the STS 51-D mission in April 1985, but had malfunctioned. In addition, a mid-deck materials processing experiment, the Physical Vapor Transport Organic Solid Experiment (PVTOS), was flown aboard Discovery.
The three communications satellites were AUSSAT-l, a multi-purpose spacecraft owned by Australia; ASC-l, owned and operated by the American Satellite Co.; and SYNCOM IV-4, leased to the Department of Defense by its builder, Hughes Co. Both AUSSAT-l and ASC-l were deployed on the day of the launch, 27 August. SYNCOM IV-4 was deployed two days later. All three achieved their planned geosynchronous orbits and became operational.
On the fifth day of the mission, astronauts Fisher and van Hoften began repair efforts on the malfunctioning SYNCOM IV-3, following a successful rendezvous maneuver by Discovery. The effort was slowed by a problem in the Remote Manupulator System elbow joint. After a second EVA by Fisher and van Hoften, the satellite's control lever was repaired, permitting commands from the ground to activate the spacecraft's systems and eventually send it into its proper geosynchronous orbit. The two EVAs lasted a total of 11 hours and 27 minutes.
Discovery landed on Runway 23 at Edwards Air Force Base at 6:16 am PDT on 3 September 1985. The flight lasted a total of 7 days, 2 hours, 18 minutes and 42 seconds, completing 111 orbits of the Earth.
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