STS-31

Lore & Background

Discovery landed on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base on April 29, 1990, with a rollout of 2,705 m and a landing time of 61 seconds. The mission was originally scheduled for August 1986 as STS-61-J using Atlantis but was postponed due to the Challenger disaster. John W. Young was originally assigned to command but was reassigned and replaced by Loren J. Shriver in 1988.

Reader's Guide

STS-31 is significant as the mission that delivered the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit, an observatory that has fundamentally transformed astronomy by observing ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths above Earth's atmosphere. The deployment required careful coordination after a solar array malfunction, and the mission set altitude records for the Shuttle program. The flight also carried a unique radiation experiment using a human skull, reflecting Cold War-era concerns about space radiation. The mission's launch marked the first time since January 1986 that two Shuttles were on the pad simultaneously—Discovery on 39B and Columbia on 39A. The mission numbering system was clarified after the Challenger accident to avoid conflicts in tracking data. STS-31's legacy is tied to Hubble's decades of service, which began with this deployment.

Did You Know?

• STS-31 reached an apogee of 621 km, the highest altitude ever achieved by a Space Shuttle orbiter.
• The mission carried a human skull as part of a radiation penetration experiment, also flown on STS-28 and STS-36.
• Discovery's deorbit burn lasted 4 minutes and 58 seconds.
• The launch marked the first time since January 1986 that two Space Shuttles were on the launch pad at the same time.