Manned five crew. Deployed Ulysses spacecraft. Payloads: Deploy Ulysses, Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet, Intelsat Solar Array Coupon, Solid-Surface Combustion Experiment, Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing, Chromo-some and Plant Cell Division in Space, Physiological Systems Experiment, Voice Command System, Radiation Monitoring Equipment III, Air Force Maui Optical Site.

Orbits of Earth: 65. Distance traveled: 2,747,866 km. Orbiter Liftoff Mass: 132,911 kg. Orbiter Mass at Landing: 89,803 kg. Payload to Orbit: 22,140 kg. Payload Returned: 4,662 kg. Landed at: Concrete runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, Cali. Landing Speed: 359 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 699 m. Landing Rollout: 2,600 m.

Mission Name: STS-41 (36)
DISCOVERY (11)
Pad 39-B (15)
36th Shuttle mission
11th Flight OV-103

Crew:
Richard N. Richards (2), Commander
Robert D. Cabana (1), Pilot
William M. Shepherd (2), Mission Specialist 1
Bruce E. Melnick (1), Mission Specialist 2
Thomas D. Akers (1), Mission Specialist 3

Milestones:
OPF - May 8, 1990
VAB - Aug. 27, 1990
PAD - Sept. 4, 1990

Payload:
ULYSSES,SSBUV-02,ISAC
Mission Objectives:

Launch:
October 6, 1990, 7:47:15 a.m. EDT. Liftoff occurred 12 minutes after two-and-a-half-hour launch window opened at 7:35 a.m. EDT, Oct.6. Heaviest payload to date. Launch Weight: 259,593 lbs.
Orbit:
Altitude: 160nm
Inclination: 28.45 degrees
Orbits: 66
Duration: 4 days, 2 hours, 10 minutes, 4 seconds.
Distance: 1,707,445 miles

Hardware:
SRB: BI-040
SRM: 360Q013
ET : 39/LWT-32
MLP : 2
SSME-1: SN-2011
SSME-2: SN-2031
SSME-3: SN-2107

Landing:
October 10, 1990, 6:57:18 a.m. PDT, Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Rollout distance: 8,276 feet. Rollout time: 49 seconds (braking test). Orbiter returned to KSC Oct. 16,1990. Landing Weight: 196,869 lbs.

Mission Highlights:
Primary payload, ESA-built Ulysses spacecraft to explore polar regions of Sun, deployed. Two upper stages, Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) and a mission-specific Payload Assist Module-S (PAM-S), combined together for first time to send Ulysses toward out-of- ecliptic trajectory. Other payloads and experiments: Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment; INTELSAT Solar Array Coupon (ISAC); Chromosome and Plant Cell Division Experiment (CHROMEX); Voice Command System (VCS); Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE), Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP); Physiological Systems Experiment (PSE); Radiation Monitoring Experiment III (RME III); Shuttle Student involvement Program (SSIP) and Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 .